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* [[WesternAnimation/TheAristocats Thomas O'Malley and the Alley Cats]] in the show ''WesternAnimation/HouseofMouse'' never get a chance to perform on stage.
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* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes, he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend. He finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby"...and [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Akiko essentially disappears from the show after that]].
* Near the end of season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The ObstructiveBureaucrat who ran the Earth Kingdom's secret police has been arrested, the real leader has promised them support against the Fire Nation, Sokka's finally seeing his dad after two years, and his girlfriend's in town, Toph's mom wants to reconcile with her, Aang is going to train to master the Avatar state... But there's still two episodes left. And as soon as Sokka says "[[TemptingFate Everything's gonna be perfect, now and forever]]," you know something's gonna happen. Sure enough, before ''this'' episode is even out: the secret police are still loyal to the man they "arrested", Toph was tricked and captured by bounty hunters hired to drag her home and it's not Sokka's girlfriend that's in town, it's TheDragon in disguise, and the king, not knowing better, welcomes her with open arms. And in those next two episodes, things get worse.
* Near the end of season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The ObstructiveBureaucrat who ran the Earth Kingdom's secret police has been arrested, the real leader has promised them support against the Fire Nation, Sokka's finally seeing his dad after two years, and his girlfriend's in town, Toph's mom wants to reconcile with her, Aang is going to train to master the Avatar state... But there's still two episodes left. And as soon as Sokka says "[[TemptingFate Everything's gonna be perfect, now and forever]]," you know something's gonna happen. Sure enough, before ''this'' episode is even out: the secret police are still loyal to the man they "arrested", Toph was tricked and captured by bounty hunters hired to drag her home and it's not Sokka's girlfriend that's in town, it's TheDragon in disguise, and the king, not knowing better, welcomes her with open arms. And in those next two episodes, things get worse.
to:
* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes, he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend. He finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby"... and [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Akiko essentially disappears from the show after that]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheNorthernAirTemple The Northern Air Temple]]": After hearing about flying people inhabiting the Northern Air Temple, Aang is briefly hopeful that a group of Air Nomads survived the Fire Nation's genocide and is soon after crushed to learn that they are Earth Kingdom natives and that all their flying is done with mechanical assistance.
** Near the end of season2 of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The 2, the ObstructiveBureaucrat who ran the Earth Kingdom's secret police has been arrested, the real leader has promised them support against the Fire Nation, Sokka's finally seeing his dad after two years, and his girlfriend's in town, Toph's mom wants to reconcile with her, Aang is going to train to master the Avatar state... But there's still two episodes left. And as soon as Sokka says "[[TemptingFate Everything's gonna be perfect, now and forever]]," you know something's gonna happen. Sure enough, before ''this'' episode is even out: the secret police are still loyal to the man they "arrested", Toph was tricked and captured by bounty hunters hired to drag her home and it's not Sokka's girlfriend that's in town, it's TheDragon in disguise, and the king, not knowing better, welcomes her with open arms. And in those next two episodes, things get worse.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheNorthernAirTemple The Northern Air Temple]]": After hearing about flying people inhabiting the Northern Air Temple, Aang is briefly hopeful that a group of Air Nomads survived the Fire Nation's genocide and is soon after crushed to learn that they are Earth Kingdom natives and that all their flying is done with mechanical assistance.
** Near the end of season
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** Eddy is always a victim of this when it comes to his scams, even though he does deserve it sometimes.
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** Eddy is always a victim of this when it comes to his scams, even though he does deserve it sometimes.most of the time.
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* While the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' [[http://www.vimeo.com/11486841 TV short]] based on the reality series ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' is mainly based on footage of the original ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' shorts, there is one notable scene of original animation at the end: Wile E. Coyote finally manages catch the Road Runner (simply by pouring birdseed and leaping onto him while he was eating), [[spoiler:but he turns out to be so weak from not eating he couldn't even choke the Road Runner]].
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* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** While the''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' [[http://www.vimeo.com/11486841 TV short]] based on the reality series ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' is mainly based on footage of the original ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' shorts, there is one notable scene of original animation at the end: Wile E. Coyote finally manages catch the Road Runner (simply by pouring birdseed and leaping onto him while he was eating), [[spoiler:but he turns out to be so weak from not eating he couldn't even choke the Road Runner]].Runner]].
** In ''WesternAnimation/CannedFeud'', Sylvester, whose owners have left him without easy access to food, tries to retrieve the can opener from a mouse who seems determined to starve him. He does finally get it at the end of the cartoon, only for the mouse to simply padlock the cat food cupboard.
** While the
** In ''WesternAnimation/CannedFeud'', Sylvester, whose owners have left him without easy access to food, tries to retrieve the can opener from a mouse who seems determined to starve him. He does finally get it at the end of the cartoon, only for the mouse to simply padlock the cat food cupboard.
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Episode 29 is not real.
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** And since he's famous for falling in love, only to be rejected, he gets his happy ending in episode 29, which was the so-called "last episode" (they ended up making a lot more, and some didn't get to air due to the cancellation), when a girl gives him a kiss: June.
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** "Frankendoodle": In the beginning, a live-action artist at sea accidentally drops his only pencil into the ocean, and goes into a depression because now he can't draw. At the end, he gets his pencil back, begins to draw... and breaks the tip on the canvas, not having a pencil sharpener. The episode ends with his anguished screams.
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** "Frankendoodle": In the beginning, a live-action artist at sea accidentally drops his only pencil into the ocean, and goes into a depression because now he can't draw. draw; said pencil lands in Bikini Bottom and is discovered by [=SpongeBob=] as a "magic pencil". At the end, he gets his pencil back, back when [=SpongeBob=] sends it back to the surface, begins to draw... and breaks the tip on the canvas, not having a pencil sharpener. The episode ends with his anguished screams.
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Indentation
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* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes, he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend.
** Though he does finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby". [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Too bad that Akiko disappears in the next episodes]].
** Though he does finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby". [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Too bad that Akiko disappears in the next episodes]].
to:
* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes, he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend. \n** Though he does He finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby". Baby"...and [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Too bad that Akiko essentially disappears in from the next episodes]].show after that]].
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* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'': In the episode "Money," John, Paul and George yank Ringo's chain by sewing their concert take in his pocket and then have him get chased by a mysterious stranger throughout Coney Island and losing the money. After the stranger is unmasked as George, John confesses that he sewed [[StageMoney stage money]] in Ringo's pocket and kept the concert money. But it's John's chain who winds up getting yanked--he kept the stage money.
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* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'': In the episode "Money," John, Paul and George yank Ringo's chain by sewing their concert take in his pocket and then have him get chased by a mysterious stranger throughout Coney Island and losing the money. After the stranger is unmasked as George, John confesses that he sewed [[StageMoney stage money]] in Ringo's pocket and kept the concert money. But it's John's chain who winds up getting yanked--he kept the stage money.
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon "Money," John, Paul and George yank Ringo's chain by sewing their concert take in his pocket and then have him get chased by a mysterious stranger throughout Coney Island and losing the money. After the stranger is unmasked as George, John confesses that he sewed [[StageMoney stage money]] in Ringo's pocket and kept the concert money. But it's John's chain who winds up getting yanked--he kept the stage money.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'': In ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon the episode "Money," John, Paul and George yank Ringo's chain by sewing their concert take in his pocket and then have him get chased by a mysterious stranger throughout Coney Island and losing the money. After the stranger is unmasked as George, John confesses that he sewed [[StageMoney stage money]] in Ringo's pocket and kept the concert money. But it's John's chain who winds up getting yanked--he kept the stage money.
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* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Poor Morty can't catch a break. In [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E5TheWhirlyDirlyConspiracy "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy]], he sends Rick to take Jerry on an adventure just to get him out of the house...but still has to put up with Beth and Summer's mishaps with Rick's tech in the garage.
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** In the beginning of "Frankendoodle", a live-action artist at sea accidentally drops his only pencil into the ocean, and goes into a depression because now he can't draw. At the end, he gets his pencil back, begins to draw... and breaks the tip on the canvas, not having a pencil sharpener. The episode ends with his anguished screams.
* After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a BrainInAJar throughout the first three seasons of ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003), Baxter Stockman finally regains a whole, human body in the episode "Insane in the Membrane". Unfortunately, it's not long before Stockman's new body begins breaking down, and the doctor begins losing limbs. Worse still, he begins losing the one thing he'd managed to keep throughout his tribulations: his mind. It gets worse for him in "Good Genes, Part 1." Bishop effectively brings him BackFromTheDead in a pseudo-body to continue their work. Stockman laments this development because he thought that he had finally found peace following his previous appearance.
* A rare ''comedic'' example exists in Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''. Pidge and Lance find a store in the Space Mall selling Earth goods, and Pidge gets excited about seeing a video game she likes. She and Lance spend the episode scrounging up enough money to get the game, and once they take it back to the Castle of Lions... it turns out they can't even play it, since it's incompatible with Altean technology. Pidge gets a TwitchyEye and lets out a BigNo at the realization. [[spoiler:Subverted later on, as she does get it to work [[BrickJoke a couple seasons later]].]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.
* After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a BrainInAJar throughout the first three seasons of ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003), Baxter Stockman finally regains a whole, human body in the episode "Insane in the Membrane". Unfortunately, it's not long before Stockman's new body begins breaking down, and the doctor begins losing limbs. Worse still, he begins losing the one thing he'd managed to keep throughout his tribulations: his mind. It gets worse for him in "Good Genes, Part 1." Bishop effectively brings him BackFromTheDead in a pseudo-body to continue their work. Stockman laments this development because he thought that he had finally found peace following his previous appearance.
* A rare ''comedic'' example exists in Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''. Pidge and Lance find a store in the Space Mall selling Earth goods, and Pidge gets excited about seeing a video game she likes. She and Lance spend the episode scrounging up enough money to get the game, and once they take it back to the Castle of Lions... it turns out they can't even play it, since it's incompatible with Altean technology. Pidge gets a TwitchyEye and lets out a BigNo at the realization. [[spoiler:Subverted later on, as she does get it to work [[BrickJoke a couple seasons later]].]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.
to:
** "Frankendoodle": In the beginning of "Frankendoodle", beginning, a live-action artist at sea accidentally drops his only pencil into the ocean, and goes into a depression because now he can't draw. At the end, he gets his pencil back, begins to draw... and breaks the tip on the canvas, not having a pencil sharpener. The episode ends with his anguished screams.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E07MuchAdoAboutBoimler Much Ado About Boimler]]", after a season of being the show's primary ButtMonkey, Boimler nearly gets lucky with the attendants on the Farm. However, since his transporter effect has worn off, he's outed as not being a freak any more and immediately shipped out.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a BrainInAJar throughout the first threeseasons of ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003), seasons, Baxter Stockman finally regains a whole, human body in the episode "Insane in the Membrane". Unfortunately, it's not long before Stockman's new body begins breaking down, and the doctor begins losing limbs. Worse still, he begins losing the one thing he'd managed to keep throughout his tribulations: his mind. It gets worse for him in "Good Genes, Part 1." Bishop effectively brings him BackFromTheDead in a pseudo-body to continue their work. Stockman laments this development because he thought that he had finally found peace following his previous appearance.
* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': A rare ''comedic'' example exists in Season2 of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''.2. Pidge and Lance find a store in the Space Mall selling Earth goods, and Pidge gets excited about seeing a video game she likes. She and Lance spend the episode scrounging up enough money to get the game, and once they take it back to the Castle of Lions... it turns out they can't even play it, since it's incompatible with Altean technology. Pidge gets a TwitchyEye and lets out a BigNo at the realization. [[spoiler:Subverted later on, as she does get it to work [[BrickJoke a couple seasons later]].]]
*The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.
BigBad.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E07MuchAdoAboutBoimler Much Ado About Boimler]]", after a season of being the show's primary ButtMonkey, Boimler nearly gets lucky with the attendants on the Farm. However, since his transporter effect has worn off, he's outed as not being a freak any more and immediately shipped out.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a BrainInAJar throughout the first three
* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': A rare ''comedic'' example exists in Season
*
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* Happens all the time to Tuck Carbunkle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot''. The most painful and gratuitous example is the very beginning of the episode “Call Hating”, where he is happily walking down the street, having gotten a snazzy new outfit and haircut, and narrowly dodging every single thing that would dare get it dirty [[BadassAdorable like the pro he is]]... only for a giant slime monster to appear out of nowhere and pass over him, completely ruining it all. His anguished cry feels all too real. The actual main story commences as though nothing happened, and Tuck is never seen again outside of one ''very'' brief background appearance after Jenny defeats the creature.
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* Happens all the time to Tuck Carbunkle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot''. The most painful and gratuitous example is the very beginning of the episode “Call Hating”, where he is happily walking down the street, having gotten a snazzy new outfit and haircut, and narrowly dodging every single thing that would dare get it dirty [[BadassAdorable like the pro he is]]... [[DiabolusExMachina only for a giant slime monster to appear out of nowhere nowhere]] and pass over him, completely ruining it all. His anguished cry feels all too real. The actual main story commences as though nothing happened, and Tuck is never seen again outside of one ''very'' brief background appearance after Jenny defeats the creature.
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* Happens all the time to Tuck Carbunkle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot''. The most painful and gratuitous example is the very beginning of the episode “Call Hating”, where he is happily walking down the street, having gotten a snazzy new outfit and haircut, and narrowly dodging every single thing that would dare get it dirty [[BadassAdorable like the pro he is]]—only for a giant slime monster to appear out of nowhere and pass over him, completely ruining it all. His anguished cry feels all too real. The actual main story commences as though nothing happened, and Tuck is never seen again outside of one ''very'' brief background appearance after Jenny defeats the creature.
to:
* Happens all the time to Tuck Carbunkle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot''. The most painful and gratuitous example is the very beginning of the episode “Call Hating”, where he is happily walking down the street, having gotten a snazzy new outfit and haircut, and narrowly dodging every single thing that would dare get it dirty [[BadassAdorable like the pro he is]]—only is]]... only for a giant slime monster to appear out of nowhere and pass over him, completely ruining it all. His anguished cry feels all too real. The actual main story commences as though nothing happened, and Tuck is never seen again outside of one ''very'' brief background appearance after Jenny defeats the creature.
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* Happens all the time to Tuck Carbunkle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot''. The most painful and gratuitous example is the very beginning of the episode “Call Hating”, where he is happily walking down the street, having gotten a snazzy new outfit and haircut, and narrowly dodging every single thing that would dare get it dirty [[BadassAdorable like the pro he is]]—only for a giant slime monster to appear out of nowhere and pass over him, completely ruining it all. His anguished cry feels all too real. The actual main story commences as though nothing happened, and Tuck is never seen again outside of one ''very'' brief background appearance after Jenny defeats the creature.
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%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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[[YankTheDogsChain The yanking of proverbial dogs' chains]] in WesternAnimation.
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%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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[[YankTheDogsChain The yanking of proverbial dogs' chains]] in WesternAnimation.
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* The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.
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* The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.BigBad.
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* Same in ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}''. [[spoiler:Averted in the finale: Allen got his clue, solved it and got home legitimately with the kids.]] The final episode played it straight at the same time. Allen's challenge [[spoiler: was to remove the thorn from the paw of a lion he met the second he was first transported into the game.]]. Allen stunned, figures he could have left the game the second he came in all those years ago if he hadn't ran away.
to:
* Same in ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}''. [[spoiler:Averted in the finale: Allen got his clue, solved it and got home legitimately with the kids.]] The final episode played it straight at the same time. Allen's challenge [[spoiler: was to remove the thorn from the paw of a lion he met the second he was first transported into the game.]]. ]] Allen stunned, figures he could have left the game the second he came in all those years ago if he hadn't ran away.
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* Squidward from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. Sure he's [[SmallNameBigEgo an egomaniac]] and a jerk, but [[JerkassWoobie people kinda feel sorry for him]] [[ButtMonkey after a while.]]
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* Squidward from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. Sure he's [[SmallNameBigEgo an egomaniac]] and a jerk, but [[JerkassWoobie people kinda start to feel sorry for him]] [[ButtMonkey after a while.]]
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** After nineteen seasons [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege Meg goes to college]] and was fitting in well (with even an fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student showing interest in her), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
to:
** After nineteen seasons [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege Meg goes to college]] and was fitting in well (with even an a fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student showing interest in her), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] and was fitting in well (with even an fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student showing interest in her), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] Meg goes to college]] and was fitting in well (with even an fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student showing interest in her), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
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** Both Kevin Swanson and Jeff Campbell seemed to be interested in her early on, but the former turned into a bitter wreck who despises pretty much everything and everyone (including Meg), while the latter [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappeared entirely]]. Both cases coincide to around the time her ButtMonkey status was [[Flanderization/FamilyGuy upped to an extreme]], which is probably why.
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** Both Kevin Swanson and Jeff Campbell seemed to be interested in her early on, but the former turned into a bitter wreck who despises pretty much everything and everyone (including Meg), while the latter [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappeared entirely]]. Both cases coincide to around the time her ButtMonkey status was [[Flanderization/FamilyGuy upped to an extreme]], which is probably why.
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** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS20E15HardBoiledMeg Hard Boiled Meg]]" she meets a guy named Seymour who despite being a criminal genuinely seems to love her. It turns out that he never existed and was just a combination of an E.Coli hallucination from contaminated mustard and her own loneliness. Chris was kind enough to take the blame for crashing the car at the end, at least.
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** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS20E15HardBoiledMeg Hard Boiled Meg]]" she meets a guy named Seymour who despite being a criminal genuinely seems to love her. It turns out that he never existed and was just a combination of an E.Coli hallucination from contaminated mustard and her own loneliness. [[ThrowTheDogABone Chris was kind enough to take the blame for crashing the car at the end, at least.least]].
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] and was fitting in well (with even an fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] and was fitting in well (with even an fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student), student showing interest in her), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] and was fitting in well, only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled.
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] and was fitting in well, well (with even an fellow ImpliedLoveInterest student), only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled.expelled after failing [[UnwinnableByDesign a likely impossible task]]. What's worse is that the architects behind it (Peter, Lois and Principal Shepherd) [[KarmaHoudini get off scot-free while Meg gets all the blame]].
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** After nineteen seasons [[TitleDrop Meg goes to college]] in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E18MegGoesToCollege said episode]] and was fitting in well, only to get caught in an admissions scandal that she had no knowledge of and ultimately expelled.
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** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS20E15HardBoiledMeg Hard Boiled Meg]]" she meets a guy named Seymour who despite being a criminal genuinely seems to love her. It turns out that he never existed and was just a combination of an E.Coli hallucination from contaminated mustard and her own loneliness. Chris was kind enough to take the blame for crashing the car at the end, at least.
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* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend.
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* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes (Yes, he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend.
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*** "You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir. Bravo!"
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* ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'': Any time Ace's crush [[AlphaBitch Tina]] becomes attracted to him, it will be over by the episode's end, going as far as a couple {{almost kiss}}es and her ''briefly'' becoming Ace's girlfriend on separate occasions.
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** The biggest moment goes to Plankton in the episode "Plankton's Regular": the episode starts with a man that regularly eats in the Chum Bucket and refuses to even eat a single Krabby Patty. Because of Mr. Krabs being jealous of him, he and [=SpongeBob=] try everything to steal said customer from Plankton, to the point of trying to steal Plankton's recipe for chum. However, at the end of the episode, it's revealed that said customer was paid by Karen to eat in the Chum Bucket so Plankton would stop complaining about his lack of success, but he couldn't eat more chum anymore, regardless of the money (they already pumped his stomach many times). Plankton is left in tears while Krabs laughs at his misery. Note that, even having only one customer, Plankton immediately stopped trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
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** The biggest moment goes to Plankton in Plankton's usually deserving of the episode trope, always trying to steal the Krabby Patty Formula and having it yanked out of his hands and all, but a particularly cruel example comes from "Plankton's Regular": the episode starts with a man that regularly eats in the Chum Bucket and refuses to even eat a single Krabby Patty. Because of Mr. Krabs being jealous of him, he and [=SpongeBob=] try everything to steal said customer from Plankton, to the point of trying to steal Plankton's recipe for chum. However, at the end of the episode, it's revealed that said customer was paid by Karen to eat in the Chum Bucket so Plankton would stop complaining about his lack of success, but he couldn't eat more chum anymore, regardless of the money (they already pumped his stomach many times). Plankton is left in tears while Krabs laughs at his misery. Note that, even having only one customer, Plankton immediately stopped trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
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** Plankton fits quite well here, but he kinda deserves it.
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*** While searching for Bender's missing parts in the episode, "[[PunBasedTitle Assie Come Home]]," the Planet Express crew finds that Tinny Tim was given Bender's legs to replace his own broken ones. The scene is somewhat heartwarming, as Tinny is grateful to be walking properly for the first time. This is followed by the sound of Bender [[ComedicSociopathy chainsawing his legs off Tinny]] and reattaching them to himself. The now legless Tinny Tim sadly drags himself back onto his wooden cart, to which Bender remarks "Nice cart." [[UpToEleven Cut to Bender riding the stolen cart, immediately getting bored with it, and tossing it into a dumpster]].
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*** While searching for Bender's missing parts in the episode, "[[PunBasedTitle Assie Come Home]]," the Planet Express crew finds that Tinny Tim was given Bender's legs to replace his own broken ones. The scene is somewhat heartwarming, as Tinny is grateful to be walking properly for the first time. This is followed by the sound of Bender [[ComedicSociopathy chainsawing his legs off Tinny]] and reattaching them to himself. The now legless Tinny Tim sadly drags himself back onto his wooden cart, to which Bender remarks "Nice cart." [[UpToEleven Cut to Bender riding the stolen cart, immediately getting bored with it, and tossing it into a dumpster]].dumpster.
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* Steve in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' always gets this when it comes to trying to pursue relationships. The most brutal example is a Halloween episode, "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", where he takes out his friend's sister for trick or treating and both are forced to go on the run when he goes over the time limit to bring her home and Toshi tries to hunt them down and kill Steve (Yes he's ''that'' overprotective). Through the chase it seems the two are developing feelings for one another, but at the end, when they finally convince Toshi to back off, his sister proclaims she has a boyfriend, a ''nine year old'' boyfriend.
** Though he does finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby". [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Too bad that Akiko disappears in the next episodes]].
* Near the end of season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The ObstructiveBureaucrat who ran the Earth Kingdom's secret police has been arrested, the real leader has promised them support against the Fire Nation, Sokka's finally seeing his dad after two years, and his girlfriend's in town, Toph's mom wants to reconcile with her, Aang is going to train to master the Avatar state... But there's still two episodes left. And as soon as Sokka says "[[TemptingFate Everything's gonna be perfect, now and forever]]," you know something's gonna happen. Sure enough, before ''this'' episode is even out: the secret police are still loyal to the man they "arrested", Toph was tricked and captured by bounty hunters hired to drag her home and it's not Sokka's girlfriend that's in town, it's TheDragon in disguise, and the king, not knowing better, welcomes her with open arms. And in those next two episodes, things get worse.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon "Money," John, Paul and George yank Ringo's chain by sewing their concert take in his pocket and then have him get chased by a mysterious stranger throughout Coney Island and losing the money. After the stranger is unmasked as George, John confesses that he sewed [[StageMoney stage money]] in Ringo's pocket and kept the concert money. But it's John's chain who winds up getting yanked--he kept the stage money.
* This always happens to Brandy in ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' when she is about to make it home.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'':
** Done very cruelly in the final episode, when Lumpus has finally gotten praise and respect, when a DiabolusExMachina undoes it all, and to rub salt into the wound, [[spoiler:it turns out he was a fake who locked up the real scoutmaster and gets dragged off to an asylum]].
** In "Bad Luck Be A Camper Tonight", The Scoutmaster in the Sky allows [[ButtMonkey Samson]] one last chance at using the slot machine that determines somebody's luck before birth in order to change his. He gets the good luck on his first try, but his ambition causes him to operate the slot machine again, this time ending on the bad luck he was born with.
* This is pretty much standard for the [[BlackAndNerdy nerdy]] ButtMonkey Tucker from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. He usually ends up getting the short end of the stick either through his numerous failures to pick up girls or constantly getting the most emotional/physical abuse due to his comic relief character setting. The best shown is "King Tuck" where he [[DorkhorseCandidate runs for school president]] in order to get some respect from others, including his friends. After Danny and Sam get AnAesop that they should listen to Tucker once in a while, they promptly, ''in seconds'', [[IgnoredEpiphany ignore it and walk off]] when Tucker rambles about his interests. Worse, for no reason other than to play up his ButtMonkey status, the writer gets two popular girls to chase after him with intent to do some bodily harm.
* This happens to Dan in ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' frequently. For a few examples, Dan destroys an animal shelter in order to get some sleep, only to have a firing range built in its place, his favorite show gets pre-empted by baseball, and later basketball, and just when he thought he won the trip to an adult astronaut sleepaway camp after cheating on an obstacle course in a reality show, it turns out to be another reality show where he's trapped with coyotes.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'':
** One of the most ''heartbreaking'' examples ever. After [[spoiler: Magica De Spell is freed]], Scrooge makes a deal with Lena: she helps him get his family back and she'll have a part in it. However [[spoiler: Magica]] was listening and proceeds to trap Lena in her shadow. Later on, Lena is forced to sacrifice herself. [[spoiler: But a brief scene establishes that she did survive somehow, and she returns partway through the following season.]]
** After noticing Donald's health deteriorating from the ongoing stress of adventure and keeping his nephews safe from the chaos that ensues in [=McDuck=] Manor, his family decides to give him a full-paid vacation with the boys assuring Donald that Scrooge will take great care of them. Unfortunately, before the bus to the cruise arrived, Donald spots [[spoiler: Della's spaceship landing. Excited to see his thought-to-be-dead sister for the first time in ten years, he races over to look for her... only to be locked inside the ship and accidentally take off, later crashing on the Moon and being captured by its inhabitants whom are planning an invasion]]. And his family has ''no'' idea any of this happened.
* The kids in ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' spend every episode on the trail of some new possible way back to their own world. Not one of these leads ever works out, either because the route simply wouldn't work or because the kids are obliged to give up the chance in order to help others. [[spoiler:Averted (sorta) in the MissingEpisode. The kids are outright told by the Dungeon Master that they've done what he brought them here to do and that they can go home now if they want, but we don't see whether or not they do.]]
* Epically subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Fistfuls of Ed". After Edd being falsely accused of being a bully and subsequently ostracized by the entire school, and then [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beaten to a pulp]] by [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Jimmy]]. Things are looking up for Edd near the end, but then we smash suddenly into a typical episode ending where the [[AbhorrentAdmirer Kanker Sisters]] pop out of the woodwork to set in with their usual "[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty treatment]]" of the already pathetically tired and beaten-down Double Dee. Eddy, who has as usual been the main source of conflict in the episode, watches in disgust before giving the Kanker Sisters the most singularly awesome chew-out they ever get in the series. As they slink away in terror, he breaks up the lingering awkwardness by giving everyone hotdogs. Double Dee even Lampshades this trope.
-->'''Edd:''' I'm touched! That you would interrupt a cliché plot ending for my sake!
** Eddy is always a victim of this when it comes to his scams, even though he does deserve it sometimes.
* Happens repeatedly on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' to almost everyone.
** Pretty much every time it looks like Timmy will finally win Trixie's heart. When Timmy had finally undone all of [[JackassGenie Norm's]] tricks, [[AlphaBitch Trixie]], who had been brainwashed to fall in love with several Timmy Turners, has finally showed up, deciding to give "the biggest, wettest kiss" to Timmy... only to have it wear off then.
** Any time it looks like Timmy might finally be free of Vicky, she gets hired to babysit again. This was happening as far back as the ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' shorts.
* Meg in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' was made to exploit the trope 100%. Any form of happiness Meg finds will be quickly taken away from her. Examples:
** The B-plot in the episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS5E9RoadToRupert Road to Rupert]]" has Peter and Meg bonding after Meg becomes Peter's chauffeur when Peter's license gets suspended. Peter, of course, goes back to his abusive ways after he gets his license back. Played so straight that [[spoiler:Peter tells Meg that he's going back to tormenting her to keep up appearances in front of the family. Meg is actually okay with this after Peter splashes a glass of juice at her, as if this is the closest thing to love that she can ever expect out of these people]].
** In the episode "Peter's Daughter", Peter vows to treat Meg better if she wakes up from a coma, which she's in because he made her go into the kitchen to save his beer when the house flooded. Meg gets a sweet, affectionate, (over-)protective father, as well as a boyfriend, because she starts dating a med student who was there when she woke up. Then Peter accidentally ruins her relationship ... then she finds out she's pregnant ... But then Michael (her boyfriend) proposes to her, saying he loves her and wants to be there for her. [[ShotGunWedding Ignoring the fact that her dad was there with a rifle]]. So Meg's going to get married... [[spoiler:except on the day of the wedding, she realizes she isn't pregnant and isn't sure she can go through with it. Her mother tells her to do what she thinks is right, ("Thanks, Mom. I love you." "I, uh, you too.") and Meg tells Michael the truth when she gets to the altar, prompting him to run out of the church.]]
** Meg gets her chain yanked again in ''[[Recap/FamilyGuyS11E7FriendsWithoutBenefits Friends Without Benefits]]" where a boy she likes agrees to hang out with her, only to reveal afterwards that not only he is gay, but he is also in love with Meg's brother, Chris. [[TheWoobie Meg did not take this well.]]
** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]", she manages to [[CallingTheOldManOut chew out her family]], but at the end, she learned she should be the family's "lightning rod" (if she's not abused, they will try to kill each other).
** In "Yacht Rocky", she meets a guy named Chad on a cruise. When the ship gets hit by a tidal wave, he ends up getting decapitated by a boat oar, [[ILoveTheDead not that this stops her]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Fry is often victim to this.
*** In "A Fishful of Dollars", he gains several billion dollars from compound interest, and loses all his wealth to Mom.
*** In "Parasites Lost" He becomes super-intelligent, witty and charming due to intestinal worms, capable of playing a difficult to master instrument amazingly well, enough to seduce Leela. He throws it all away because he doesn't feel he's earned it.
*** In "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid", He saves the Earth from the Brain-Spawn, but no-one else remembers or cares (save Nibbler).
*** In "Time Keeps on Slippin'", when time starts skipping he manages to impress Leela enough for her to marry him. She attacks him at the altar, then quickly divorces him. Also when he finally discovers the thing he did to make Leela fall in love with him, it's immediately destroyed.
*** In the [[UnCanceled first series finale]], "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings", he manages to make a deal with the Robot Devil, and becomes a holophoner virtuoso... only to give it all up to save Leela, making his fame instantly evaporate. By the time of the first movie, Leela's ignoring him again.
** The young, orphaned, physically handicapped robot, [[PunnyName Tinny Tim]], is also a frequent victim to this trope, in almost every single one of his appearances.
*** While searching for Bender's missing parts in the episode, "[[PunBasedTitle Assie Come Home]]," the Planet Express crew finds that Tinny Tim was given Bender's legs to replace his own broken ones. The scene is somewhat heartwarming, as Tinny is grateful to be walking properly for the first time. This is followed by the sound of Bender [[ComedicSociopathy chainsawing his legs off Tinny]] and reattaching them to himself. The now legless Tinny Tim sadly drags himself back onto his wooden cart, to which Bender remarks "Nice cart." [[UpToEleven Cut to Bender riding the stolen cart, immediately getting bored with it, and tossing it into a dumpster]].
*** "You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir. Bravo!"
* Happens to Mina at the end of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'' episode "A Knight to Remember" as Trina chases her down after she becomes Trina's slave after they both regain their respective personalities.
* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" has Dib finally achieve everything he wanted, including respect and acclaim, after being TouchedByVorlons, only for it all to be a fantasy created by Zim's LotusEaterMachine. To get back at him for throwing a muffin in his face, no less...
* Charlie Brown gets his chain yanked near the end of ''WesternAnimation/ItsMagicCharlieBrown'', where he is unknowingly turned visible again by Snoopy and fails to kick Lucy's football this time. This doesn't bother him in the slightest, however, as he states to Lucy that he finally did it.
* Same in ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}''. [[spoiler:Averted in the finale: Allen got his clue, solved it and got home legitimately with the kids.]] The final episode played it straight at the same time. Allen's challenge [[spoiler: was to remove the thorn from the paw of a lion he met the second he was first transported into the game.]]. Allen stunned, figures he could have left the game the second he came in all those years ago if he hadn't ran away.
* ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'':
** This often happens to Henry. In the episode "Won't Stick to Most Dental Work!", he gets tired of being the ButtMonkey and quits the show. After the first sketch, he opens his own restaurant and then quits after seeing how heartbroken June was.
** Also in "You May Already Be A [=KaBlammer=]!", he's upset over the fact that no one finds him funny, so June tells him that she'll be his sidekick as long as he's hers.
** And since he's famous for falling in love, only to be rejected, he gets his happy ending in episode 29, which was the so-called "last episode" (they ended up making a lot more, and some didn't get to air due to the cancellation), when a girl gives him a kiss: June.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'':
** Happens to [[CosmicPlaything Stumpy]] the squirrel almost any time something good is going to happen in his life.
** Happens to [[JerkassWoobie Mr. Cat]] in [[spoiler: Episode 57. Kaeloo sets up a lottery where the winner gets cool prizes, and Mr. Cat and [[BornLucky Quack Quack]] participate. Each time, Quack Quack wins. Mr. Cat believes that Kaeloo is playing favorites and even gives a CallBack to another episode where she cheated. Kaeloo walks offscreen and slides a giant box containing a "surprise" for Mr. Cat towards him. He makes a short speech saying how he's finally gotten lucky for once in his life... and Kaeloo, angry at having been accused of cheating, jumps out of the box and beats him up]].
** In the episode "Let's Play Air Pockets", Kaeloo forces Stumpy to take a plane trip on a plane where she is an air hostess, despite the fact that he's afraid of heights. Stumpy tries to calm down, and finally realizes that he can calm down by playing video games. As soon as he calms down, Kaeloo confiscates his console since electronic gadgets aren't allowed on the plane.
** In Episode 4, the main four go to a library. Stumpy spends the whole episode searching for comic books, and finally finds some of his favorite superhero, Mr. Coolskin. He decides to show it to his friends. To his disappointment, none of them have ever heard of the Mr. Coolskin series. Then, Bad Kaeloo, on a BookBurning rampage, grabs the comic books and sets them all on fire.
** One episode has the main four find a PortalDoor leading to a BizarroUniverse. Kaeloo, Stumpy and Quack Quack want to go to the other dimension to check it out. Mr. Cat stays home. Just as he becomes happy to have finally gotten some time alone, the BizarroUniverse!main four, who are even more annoying than the normal main four, come to the regular universe and start bothering Mr. Cat.
* The main characters in 80s music cartoon ''WesternAnimation/KiddVideo''. Particularly noteworthy example: As a reward for saving one of its citizens, a small village gives Whiz one free wish from the local Wish Genie. However, when about to make the wish, Whiz learns that the others are endangered, and he quickly wishes them to be "safe at home". The Genie, being a RulesLawyer-ing LiteralGenie, grants only the first ''half'' of the wish, reasoning that "being 'safe' and being 'at home' are '''two''' separate wishes."
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'''s [[UnluckyEverydude Ron Stoppable]] never seemed to come out on top in the first three seasons. At the most extreme levels of yankage he somehow managed to get all of his 99 million dollars he got from Bueno Nacho stolen by [[IdiotBall keeping it all]] [[TookALevelInDumbass in his pants]], leaving him with nothing [[FridgeLogic (though most can't figure out what happened with the continued royalties after that payment)]]. [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Drakken]] also has his leash [[KickTheDog yanked]] a few times more than comfortable.
* There have been a few times where Bill Dauterive from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' has started a relationship or found acceptance with an outside group, but every single time it happens, something comes up to ruin it for him. The last relationship he gets involved in turns into a case of him yanking his own chain, since he begins dating Reverend Stroup and both seem infatuated with each other, but he rejects her after she steps down as pastor of Arlen Methodist just to be with him, since he preferred the ForbiddenFruit aspect of their affair. It's almost like the writers did this just so we wouldn't feel sorry for Bill anymore when he gripes about his loneliness, since from that point forward it's clear he brought it on himself by being a selfish asshole.
* While the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' [[http://www.vimeo.com/11486841 TV short]] based on the reality series ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' is mainly based on footage of the original ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' shorts, there is one notable scene of original animation at the end: Wile E. Coyote finally manages catch the Road Runner (simply by pouring birdseed and leaping onto him while he was eating), [[spoiler:but he turns out to be so weak from not eating he couldn't even choke the Road Runner]].
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** [[HarmlessVillain Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] ''finally'' finds a nice evil girlfriend. They hit it off, FallingInLoveMontage and all -- and then in the last five seconds of the episode, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the love-destroying satellite he built earlier]] crashes and zaps her, causing her to storm away with a declaration of "I feel NOTHING!"
** Then there's Candace. OncePerEpisode she'll have solid proof of her brothers' schemes (which actually shares fun and joy to the neighborhood more than it harms), only to find that it's vanished or destroyed when she shows her mother. Other times, any special moment with Jeremy will be interrupted by something (possibly just by Candace herself), and any attempt to impress him will backfire in a humiliating fashion.
*** Then again, Jeremy seems to be as mellow and kind to Candace when she's disheveled with branches in her hair as any other time. Candace ''fears'' being humiliated in front of him, but he's so much of a legitimately NiceGuy that it may be impossible. You could say Jeremy is the personification of ThrowTheDogABone for Candace.
*** Candace ''does'' get her mother Linda to see Phineas and Ferb's inventions multiple times, but they're all undone somehow. In "Invasion of the Ferb Snatchers", the "Linda" who sees the alien launch pad Phineas and Ferb built is actually a robot piloted by an alien. In "She's the Mayor", Candace uses her day as mayor to get her parents to see the pioneer town the boys built, but Doof's Accelerate-inator malfunctions and rewinds time to the beginning of the episode. In "A Real Boy", Linda sees the jumping machine her sons built, but Doof's Forget-About-It-Inator erases her memory.
** Happens at the end of "My Fair Goalie" to Football X-7 creator Professor Ross Efrop, who was forced into hiding when it was discovered his name was a palindrome, as the British at the time were very anti-palindrome. He is about to come back out when he's still shunned for his name being a palindrome.
** Any time when it looks like Isabella is going to a romantic moment with just Phineas, something happens to ruin that moment. Notable examples include "Summer Belongs to You" and "Canderemy".
*** She gets a combo yanked chain and thrown bone at the end of TheMovie. When Major Monogram says that if the boys want Perry to stay with them, everyone must have their memories erased, Isabella takes the opportunity to plant a giant glomp kiss on Phineas before telling MM to start the memory eraser.
*** The "Act Your Age" special finally pulls the biggest one ever on her. Phineas actually starts falling for her in High School... right after she eventually gave up on him. They both finally manage to clear the air right before she leaves for college, but at least they made it.
* The [[Creator/{{Terrytoons}} Sad Cat]] cartoons directed by Creator/RalphBakshi are all about this trope. Every time it looks like Sad Cat is going to get a happy ending, he ends up in a worse situation than before. Luckily, when Bashki left Terrytoons, Sad Cat started [[ThrowTheDogABone getting happy endings]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has made viewers come to expect him to fail when attempting either of his two stated goals: going back in time, and destroying Aku. In a strange combination, either he fails to go back in time because HonorBeforeReason dictates that he never leaves those in danger to harm to go back in time, or Aku tricks him into a MacGuffinDeliveryService. Aku himself is practically unkillable as well, despite Jack beating him to a paste several times.
** There are basically only three different episodes of ''Samurai Jack'': "Aku sends a new mercenary to stop Jack", "Jack frees innocents from the grip of Aku" and "Jack almost finds a portal but loses it to Aku who was disguised in an obvious costume." Once you've seen those, you've seen the whole series and you can walk away to stop getting your chain yanked. That said, the "filler" episodes like the one he goes "down the rabbit hole" and "learns to jump good" are a lot of fun, perhaps because in those he's not constrained to fail tragically.
*** Subverted in one episode, in which Jack appears to, yet again, suffer defeat when attempting to access an appropriate time portal, only for the episode to end showing an older Jack on the other side of the portal, and the implicit assertion by the portal's guardian that he will, eventually, pass through.
*** During their TrainingFromHell montage in Season 5, one of the Daughters of Aku (Ashi) sneaks away to marvel at the outside world. [[TheHeavy Her mother]] catches her and begins talking about how the beauty of the world was given to them by Aku and how that is what they are trying to defend... before she grabs Ashi by the throat, berates her for her lack of focus, and tosses her to a GiantMook for "[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown discipline]]".
** The worst, though, comes from "XCVIII"; [[spoiler: Jack and a trio of adorable sheep climb a mountain to find a working time portal. Jack gleefully jumps into the portal, only for Aku to ''drag him back out'' and destroy it, just before revealing that it was the last time portal left. To add insult to injury, Jack ends up killing the sheep in his rage after they are mutated by Aku, and loses his sword down the pit where the time portal used to be]].
** That's somehow still '''not''' the worst! The '''actual''' worst comes at the very end of the series, where [[spoiler:Jack finally accomplishes his goal and goes back to the past with Ashi, now a trusted ally [[LoveInterests and more]], to destroy Aku before his [[BadFuture dark timeline]] can come to pass. [[HappilyEverAfter Happy ending]], right? Except, Ashi is the spawn of Aku, killing him in the past before she is born retroactively erases her. '''Even worse''', this does not happen immediately after Aku is defeated, giving both Jack and the viewers some hope that Father Time might just have given up on keeping track of everything and that Ashi might still survive. Nope. Reality finally catches on to the glitch '''right in the middle of Jack and Ashi's wedding'''. This was so blatantly done to make the ending as cruel as possible (even at the expense of logic itself) that there exists a significant fan outcry against the ending]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Frank Grimes in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy "Homer's Enemy"]]. Mr. Burns sees a documentary about how Grimes went through a hard life and had recently earned a diploma in nuclear physics. Impressed, he tells Mr. Smithers to find him so he can make him his executive vice president. By the time Smithers returns with Grimes, however, Burns had seen a heroic dog on TV and now wants to make ''him'' executive vice president.
--->'''Smithers:''' In the meantime, here's Frank Grimes.\\
''(Burns does not recognize Grimes)''\\
'''Smithers:''' The, the self-made man?\\
'''Burns:''' What? Oh, yes, that fellow. Mmmm, put him somewhere out of the way, and find that dog!\\
'''Smithers:''' [[YesMan Yes sir.]]
** Gil, the unlucky businessman of Springfield, in "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II". The Simpsons let him stay in their house for one night, but he brought all his stuff in and made it into an extended stay. He got on the entire family's nerves, but Marge found herself unable to kick him out because she could not say "no" to him. After an entire year, Gil finally moved to Scottsdale because he got a job as a real estate agent. Marge still had to say "no" to him, so the family went to Scottsdale to talk to him. There, they discovered Gil was actually successful at this job, as everyone acclaimed him. But when Marge finally confronted Gil and shouted at him because of his being so annoying, Gil's co-workers thought was a miserable man, so he was fired.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan,'' it really looks like Peter is the only superhero around, though naturally he's outnumbered by {{supervillain}}s. One can hope that the supervillains are all local. So when J. Jonah Jameson's astronaut son and all-around decent guy gets superpowers and is willing to help, wouldn't it seem like [[BigApplesauce the Big Apple]] finally gets another hero? No, because WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity. Looks like the best Spidey can hope for are supervillains who aren't [[FriendlyEnemy quite]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards evil]] and won't stay local, like Black Cat, Sandman, and Molten Man.
* Squidward from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. Sure he's [[SmallNameBigEgo an egomaniac]] and a jerk, but [[JerkassWoobie people kinda feel sorry for him]] [[ButtMonkey after a while.]]
** In "Bubble Stand" he briefly learns how to play the clarinet well after using [=SpongeBob=]'s technique to blow a giant bubble... until his house gets sucked inside said giant bubble, and it loudly pops, apparently destroying his clarinet skills.
*** It's implied that his skills at the clarinet are tied to his sense of self worth. When he's feeling good about himself, he plays better. When he's aggravated or depressed, his skill plummets, which just makes it all the sadder seeing how down he is all the time.
** In "Squilliam Returns" he briefly impresses Squilliam when [=SpongeBob=] disguises the Krusty Krab as a fancy restaurant... until [=SpongeBob=] goes crazy due to Squidward's earlier ExactWords on forgetting everything that isn't about fine dining, including his name, and destroys everything.
** The biggest moment goes to Plankton in the episode "Plankton's Regular": the episode starts with a man that regularly eats in the Chum Bucket and refuses to even eat a single Krabby Patty. Because of Mr. Krabs being jealous of him, he and [=SpongeBob=] try everything to steal said customer from Plankton, to the point of trying to steal Plankton's recipe for chum. However, at the end of the episode, it's revealed that said customer was paid by Karen to eat in the Chum Bucket so Plankton would stop complaining about his lack of success, but he couldn't eat more chum anymore, regardless of the money (they already pumped his stomach many times). Plankton is left in tears while Krabs laughs at his misery. Note that, even having only one customer, Plankton immediately stopped trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
** [=SpongeBob=] himself is often the victim of this trope as well, usually in episodes focused on trying to get his boating license. It seems that he ''finally'' is going to get it...[[DiabolusExMachina but something random will always happen to prevent [=SpongeBob=] to pass the exam.]]
** Plankton fits quite well here, but he kinda deserves it.
** In the beginning of "Frankendoodle", a live-action artist at sea accidentally drops his only pencil into the ocean, and goes into a depression because now he can't draw. At the end, he gets his pencil back, begins to draw... and breaks the tip on the canvas, not having a pencil sharpener. The episode ends with his anguished screams.
* After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a BrainInAJar throughout the first three seasons of ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003), Baxter Stockman finally regains a whole, human body in the episode "Insane in the Membrane". Unfortunately, it's not long before Stockman's new body begins breaking down, and the doctor begins losing limbs. Worse still, he begins losing the one thing he'd managed to keep throughout his tribulations: his mind. It gets worse for him in "Good Genes, Part 1." Bishop effectively brings him BackFromTheDead in a pseudo-body to continue their work. Stockman laments this development because he thought that he had finally found peace following his previous appearance.
* A rare ''comedic'' example exists in Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''. Pidge and Lance find a store in the Space Mall selling Earth goods, and Pidge gets excited about seeing a video game she likes. She and Lance spend the episode scrounging up enough money to get the game, and once they take it back to the Castle of Lions... it turns out they can't even play it, since it's incompatible with Altean technology. Pidge gets a TwitchyEye and lets out a BigNo at the realization. [[spoiler:Subverted later on, as she does get it to work [[BrickJoke a couple seasons later]].]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.
** Though he does finally get together with Akiko in "Spelling Bee My Baby". [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Too bad that Akiko disappears in the next episodes]].
* Near the end of season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The ObstructiveBureaucrat who ran the Earth Kingdom's secret police has been arrested, the real leader has promised them support against the Fire Nation, Sokka's finally seeing his dad after two years, and his girlfriend's in town, Toph's mom wants to reconcile with her, Aang is going to train to master the Avatar state... But there's still two episodes left. And as soon as Sokka says "[[TemptingFate Everything's gonna be perfect, now and forever]]," you know something's gonna happen. Sure enough, before ''this'' episode is even out: the secret police are still loyal to the man they "arrested", Toph was tricked and captured by bounty hunters hired to drag her home and it's not Sokka's girlfriend that's in town, it's TheDragon in disguise, and the king, not knowing better, welcomes her with open arms. And in those next two episodes, things get worse.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon "Money," John, Paul and George yank Ringo's chain by sewing their concert take in his pocket and then have him get chased by a mysterious stranger throughout Coney Island and losing the money. After the stranger is unmasked as George, John confesses that he sewed [[StageMoney stage money]] in Ringo's pocket and kept the concert money. But it's John's chain who winds up getting yanked--he kept the stage money.
* This always happens to Brandy in ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' when she is about to make it home.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'':
** Done very cruelly in the final episode, when Lumpus has finally gotten praise and respect, when a DiabolusExMachina undoes it all, and to rub salt into the wound, [[spoiler:it turns out he was a fake who locked up the real scoutmaster and gets dragged off to an asylum]].
** In "Bad Luck Be A Camper Tonight", The Scoutmaster in the Sky allows [[ButtMonkey Samson]] one last chance at using the slot machine that determines somebody's luck before birth in order to change his. He gets the good luck on his first try, but his ambition causes him to operate the slot machine again, this time ending on the bad luck he was born with.
* This is pretty much standard for the [[BlackAndNerdy nerdy]] ButtMonkey Tucker from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. He usually ends up getting the short end of the stick either through his numerous failures to pick up girls or constantly getting the most emotional/physical abuse due to his comic relief character setting. The best shown is "King Tuck" where he [[DorkhorseCandidate runs for school president]] in order to get some respect from others, including his friends. After Danny and Sam get AnAesop that they should listen to Tucker once in a while, they promptly, ''in seconds'', [[IgnoredEpiphany ignore it and walk off]] when Tucker rambles about his interests. Worse, for no reason other than to play up his ButtMonkey status, the writer gets two popular girls to chase after him with intent to do some bodily harm.
* This happens to Dan in ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' frequently. For a few examples, Dan destroys an animal shelter in order to get some sleep, only to have a firing range built in its place, his favorite show gets pre-empted by baseball, and later basketball, and just when he thought he won the trip to an adult astronaut sleepaway camp after cheating on an obstacle course in a reality show, it turns out to be another reality show where he's trapped with coyotes.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'':
** One of the most ''heartbreaking'' examples ever. After [[spoiler: Magica De Spell is freed]], Scrooge makes a deal with Lena: she helps him get his family back and she'll have a part in it. However [[spoiler: Magica]] was listening and proceeds to trap Lena in her shadow. Later on, Lena is forced to sacrifice herself. [[spoiler: But a brief scene establishes that she did survive somehow, and she returns partway through the following season.]]
** After noticing Donald's health deteriorating from the ongoing stress of adventure and keeping his nephews safe from the chaos that ensues in [=McDuck=] Manor, his family decides to give him a full-paid vacation with the boys assuring Donald that Scrooge will take great care of them. Unfortunately, before the bus to the cruise arrived, Donald spots [[spoiler: Della's spaceship landing. Excited to see his thought-to-be-dead sister for the first time in ten years, he races over to look for her... only to be locked inside the ship and accidentally take off, later crashing on the Moon and being captured by its inhabitants whom are planning an invasion]]. And his family has ''no'' idea any of this happened.
* The kids in ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' spend every episode on the trail of some new possible way back to their own world. Not one of these leads ever works out, either because the route simply wouldn't work or because the kids are obliged to give up the chance in order to help others. [[spoiler:Averted (sorta) in the MissingEpisode. The kids are outright told by the Dungeon Master that they've done what he brought them here to do and that they can go home now if they want, but we don't see whether or not they do.]]
* Epically subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Fistfuls of Ed". After Edd being falsely accused of being a bully and subsequently ostracized by the entire school, and then [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beaten to a pulp]] by [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Jimmy]]. Things are looking up for Edd near the end, but then we smash suddenly into a typical episode ending where the [[AbhorrentAdmirer Kanker Sisters]] pop out of the woodwork to set in with their usual "[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty treatment]]" of the already pathetically tired and beaten-down Double Dee. Eddy, who has as usual been the main source of conflict in the episode, watches in disgust before giving the Kanker Sisters the most singularly awesome chew-out they ever get in the series. As they slink away in terror, he breaks up the lingering awkwardness by giving everyone hotdogs. Double Dee even Lampshades this trope.
-->'''Edd:''' I'm touched! That you would interrupt a cliché plot ending for my sake!
** Eddy is always a victim of this when it comes to his scams, even though he does deserve it sometimes.
* Happens repeatedly on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' to almost everyone.
** Pretty much every time it looks like Timmy will finally win Trixie's heart. When Timmy had finally undone all of [[JackassGenie Norm's]] tricks, [[AlphaBitch Trixie]], who had been brainwashed to fall in love with several Timmy Turners, has finally showed up, deciding to give "the biggest, wettest kiss" to Timmy... only to have it wear off then.
** Any time it looks like Timmy might finally be free of Vicky, she gets hired to babysit again. This was happening as far back as the ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' shorts.
* Meg in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' was made to exploit the trope 100%. Any form of happiness Meg finds will be quickly taken away from her. Examples:
** The B-plot in the episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS5E9RoadToRupert Road to Rupert]]" has Peter and Meg bonding after Meg becomes Peter's chauffeur when Peter's license gets suspended. Peter, of course, goes back to his abusive ways after he gets his license back. Played so straight that [[spoiler:Peter tells Meg that he's going back to tormenting her to keep up appearances in front of the family. Meg is actually okay with this after Peter splashes a glass of juice at her, as if this is the closest thing to love that she can ever expect out of these people]].
** In the episode "Peter's Daughter", Peter vows to treat Meg better if she wakes up from a coma, which she's in because he made her go into the kitchen to save his beer when the house flooded. Meg gets a sweet, affectionate, (over-)protective father, as well as a boyfriend, because she starts dating a med student who was there when she woke up. Then Peter accidentally ruins her relationship ... then she finds out she's pregnant ... But then Michael (her boyfriend) proposes to her, saying he loves her and wants to be there for her. [[ShotGunWedding Ignoring the fact that her dad was there with a rifle]]. So Meg's going to get married... [[spoiler:except on the day of the wedding, she realizes she isn't pregnant and isn't sure she can go through with it. Her mother tells her to do what she thinks is right, ("Thanks, Mom. I love you." "I, uh, you too.") and Meg tells Michael the truth when she gets to the altar, prompting him to run out of the church.]]
** Meg gets her chain yanked again in ''[[Recap/FamilyGuyS11E7FriendsWithoutBenefits Friends Without Benefits]]" where a boy she likes agrees to hang out with her, only to reveal afterwards that not only he is gay, but he is also in love with Meg's brother, Chris. [[TheWoobie Meg did not take this well.]]
** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]", she manages to [[CallingTheOldManOut chew out her family]], but at the end, she learned she should be the family's "lightning rod" (if she's not abused, they will try to kill each other).
** In "Yacht Rocky", she meets a guy named Chad on a cruise. When the ship gets hit by a tidal wave, he ends up getting decapitated by a boat oar, [[ILoveTheDead not that this stops her]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Fry is often victim to this.
*** In "A Fishful of Dollars", he gains several billion dollars from compound interest, and loses all his wealth to Mom.
*** In "Parasites Lost" He becomes super-intelligent, witty and charming due to intestinal worms, capable of playing a difficult to master instrument amazingly well, enough to seduce Leela. He throws it all away because he doesn't feel he's earned it.
*** In "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid", He saves the Earth from the Brain-Spawn, but no-one else remembers or cares (save Nibbler).
*** In "Time Keeps on Slippin'", when time starts skipping he manages to impress Leela enough for her to marry him. She attacks him at the altar, then quickly divorces him. Also when he finally discovers the thing he did to make Leela fall in love with him, it's immediately destroyed.
*** In the [[UnCanceled first series finale]], "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings", he manages to make a deal with the Robot Devil, and becomes a holophoner virtuoso... only to give it all up to save Leela, making his fame instantly evaporate. By the time of the first movie, Leela's ignoring him again.
** The young, orphaned, physically handicapped robot, [[PunnyName Tinny Tim]], is also a frequent victim to this trope, in almost every single one of his appearances.
*** While searching for Bender's missing parts in the episode, "[[PunBasedTitle Assie Come Home]]," the Planet Express crew finds that Tinny Tim was given Bender's legs to replace his own broken ones. The scene is somewhat heartwarming, as Tinny is grateful to be walking properly for the first time. This is followed by the sound of Bender [[ComedicSociopathy chainsawing his legs off Tinny]] and reattaching them to himself. The now legless Tinny Tim sadly drags himself back onto his wooden cart, to which Bender remarks "Nice cart." [[UpToEleven Cut to Bender riding the stolen cart, immediately getting bored with it, and tossing it into a dumpster]].
*** "You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir. Bravo!"
* Happens to Mina at the end of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'' episode "A Knight to Remember" as Trina chases her down after she becomes Trina's slave after they both regain their respective personalities.
* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" has Dib finally achieve everything he wanted, including respect and acclaim, after being TouchedByVorlons, only for it all to be a fantasy created by Zim's LotusEaterMachine. To get back at him for throwing a muffin in his face, no less...
* Charlie Brown gets his chain yanked near the end of ''WesternAnimation/ItsMagicCharlieBrown'', where he is unknowingly turned visible again by Snoopy and fails to kick Lucy's football this time. This doesn't bother him in the slightest, however, as he states to Lucy that he finally did it.
* Same in ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}''. [[spoiler:Averted in the finale: Allen got his clue, solved it and got home legitimately with the kids.]] The final episode played it straight at the same time. Allen's challenge [[spoiler: was to remove the thorn from the paw of a lion he met the second he was first transported into the game.]]. Allen stunned, figures he could have left the game the second he came in all those years ago if he hadn't ran away.
* ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'':
** This often happens to Henry. In the episode "Won't Stick to Most Dental Work!", he gets tired of being the ButtMonkey and quits the show. After the first sketch, he opens his own restaurant and then quits after seeing how heartbroken June was.
** Also in "You May Already Be A [=KaBlammer=]!", he's upset over the fact that no one finds him funny, so June tells him that she'll be his sidekick as long as he's hers.
** And since he's famous for falling in love, only to be rejected, he gets his happy ending in episode 29, which was the so-called "last episode" (they ended up making a lot more, and some didn't get to air due to the cancellation), when a girl gives him a kiss: June.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'':
** Happens to [[CosmicPlaything Stumpy]] the squirrel almost any time something good is going to happen in his life.
** Happens to [[JerkassWoobie Mr. Cat]] in [[spoiler: Episode 57. Kaeloo sets up a lottery where the winner gets cool prizes, and Mr. Cat and [[BornLucky Quack Quack]] participate. Each time, Quack Quack wins. Mr. Cat believes that Kaeloo is playing favorites and even gives a CallBack to another episode where she cheated. Kaeloo walks offscreen and slides a giant box containing a "surprise" for Mr. Cat towards him. He makes a short speech saying how he's finally gotten lucky for once in his life... and Kaeloo, angry at having been accused of cheating, jumps out of the box and beats him up]].
** In the episode "Let's Play Air Pockets", Kaeloo forces Stumpy to take a plane trip on a plane where she is an air hostess, despite the fact that he's afraid of heights. Stumpy tries to calm down, and finally realizes that he can calm down by playing video games. As soon as he calms down, Kaeloo confiscates his console since electronic gadgets aren't allowed on the plane.
** In Episode 4, the main four go to a library. Stumpy spends the whole episode searching for comic books, and finally finds some of his favorite superhero, Mr. Coolskin. He decides to show it to his friends. To his disappointment, none of them have ever heard of the Mr. Coolskin series. Then, Bad Kaeloo, on a BookBurning rampage, grabs the comic books and sets them all on fire.
** One episode has the main four find a PortalDoor leading to a BizarroUniverse. Kaeloo, Stumpy and Quack Quack want to go to the other dimension to check it out. Mr. Cat stays home. Just as he becomes happy to have finally gotten some time alone, the BizarroUniverse!main four, who are even more annoying than the normal main four, come to the regular universe and start bothering Mr. Cat.
* The main characters in 80s music cartoon ''WesternAnimation/KiddVideo''. Particularly noteworthy example: As a reward for saving one of its citizens, a small village gives Whiz one free wish from the local Wish Genie. However, when about to make the wish, Whiz learns that the others are endangered, and he quickly wishes them to be "safe at home". The Genie, being a RulesLawyer-ing LiteralGenie, grants only the first ''half'' of the wish, reasoning that "being 'safe' and being 'at home' are '''two''' separate wishes."
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'''s [[UnluckyEverydude Ron Stoppable]] never seemed to come out on top in the first three seasons. At the most extreme levels of yankage he somehow managed to get all of his 99 million dollars he got from Bueno Nacho stolen by [[IdiotBall keeping it all]] [[TookALevelInDumbass in his pants]], leaving him with nothing [[FridgeLogic (though most can't figure out what happened with the continued royalties after that payment)]]. [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Drakken]] also has his leash [[KickTheDog yanked]] a few times more than comfortable.
* There have been a few times where Bill Dauterive from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' has started a relationship or found acceptance with an outside group, but every single time it happens, something comes up to ruin it for him. The last relationship he gets involved in turns into a case of him yanking his own chain, since he begins dating Reverend Stroup and both seem infatuated with each other, but he rejects her after she steps down as pastor of Arlen Methodist just to be with him, since he preferred the ForbiddenFruit aspect of their affair. It's almost like the writers did this just so we wouldn't feel sorry for Bill anymore when he gripes about his loneliness, since from that point forward it's clear he brought it on himself by being a selfish asshole.
* While the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' [[http://www.vimeo.com/11486841 TV short]] based on the reality series ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' is mainly based on footage of the original ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' shorts, there is one notable scene of original animation at the end: Wile E. Coyote finally manages catch the Road Runner (simply by pouring birdseed and leaping onto him while he was eating), [[spoiler:but he turns out to be so weak from not eating he couldn't even choke the Road Runner]].
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** [[HarmlessVillain Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] ''finally'' finds a nice evil girlfriend. They hit it off, FallingInLoveMontage and all -- and then in the last five seconds of the episode, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the love-destroying satellite he built earlier]] crashes and zaps her, causing her to storm away with a declaration of "I feel NOTHING!"
** Then there's Candace. OncePerEpisode she'll have solid proof of her brothers' schemes (which actually shares fun and joy to the neighborhood more than it harms), only to find that it's vanished or destroyed when she shows her mother. Other times, any special moment with Jeremy will be interrupted by something (possibly just by Candace herself), and any attempt to impress him will backfire in a humiliating fashion.
*** Then again, Jeremy seems to be as mellow and kind to Candace when she's disheveled with branches in her hair as any other time. Candace ''fears'' being humiliated in front of him, but he's so much of a legitimately NiceGuy that it may be impossible. You could say Jeremy is the personification of ThrowTheDogABone for Candace.
*** Candace ''does'' get her mother Linda to see Phineas and Ferb's inventions multiple times, but they're all undone somehow. In "Invasion of the Ferb Snatchers", the "Linda" who sees the alien launch pad Phineas and Ferb built is actually a robot piloted by an alien. In "She's the Mayor", Candace uses her day as mayor to get her parents to see the pioneer town the boys built, but Doof's Accelerate-inator malfunctions and rewinds time to the beginning of the episode. In "A Real Boy", Linda sees the jumping machine her sons built, but Doof's Forget-About-It-Inator erases her memory.
** Happens at the end of "My Fair Goalie" to Football X-7 creator Professor Ross Efrop, who was forced into hiding when it was discovered his name was a palindrome, as the British at the time were very anti-palindrome. He is about to come back out when he's still shunned for his name being a palindrome.
** Any time when it looks like Isabella is going to a romantic moment with just Phineas, something happens to ruin that moment. Notable examples include "Summer Belongs to You" and "Canderemy".
*** She gets a combo yanked chain and thrown bone at the end of TheMovie. When Major Monogram says that if the boys want Perry to stay with them, everyone must have their memories erased, Isabella takes the opportunity to plant a giant glomp kiss on Phineas before telling MM to start the memory eraser.
*** The "Act Your Age" special finally pulls the biggest one ever on her. Phineas actually starts falling for her in High School... right after she eventually gave up on him. They both finally manage to clear the air right before she leaves for college, but at least they made it.
* The [[Creator/{{Terrytoons}} Sad Cat]] cartoons directed by Creator/RalphBakshi are all about this trope. Every time it looks like Sad Cat is going to get a happy ending, he ends up in a worse situation than before. Luckily, when Bashki left Terrytoons, Sad Cat started [[ThrowTheDogABone getting happy endings]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has made viewers come to expect him to fail when attempting either of his two stated goals: going back in time, and destroying Aku. In a strange combination, either he fails to go back in time because HonorBeforeReason dictates that he never leaves those in danger to harm to go back in time, or Aku tricks him into a MacGuffinDeliveryService. Aku himself is practically unkillable as well, despite Jack beating him to a paste several times.
** There are basically only three different episodes of ''Samurai Jack'': "Aku sends a new mercenary to stop Jack", "Jack frees innocents from the grip of Aku" and "Jack almost finds a portal but loses it to Aku who was disguised in an obvious costume." Once you've seen those, you've seen the whole series and you can walk away to stop getting your chain yanked. That said, the "filler" episodes like the one he goes "down the rabbit hole" and "learns to jump good" are a lot of fun, perhaps because in those he's not constrained to fail tragically.
*** Subverted in one episode, in which Jack appears to, yet again, suffer defeat when attempting to access an appropriate time portal, only for the episode to end showing an older Jack on the other side of the portal, and the implicit assertion by the portal's guardian that he will, eventually, pass through.
*** During their TrainingFromHell montage in Season 5, one of the Daughters of Aku (Ashi) sneaks away to marvel at the outside world. [[TheHeavy Her mother]] catches her and begins talking about how the beauty of the world was given to them by Aku and how that is what they are trying to defend... before she grabs Ashi by the throat, berates her for her lack of focus, and tosses her to a GiantMook for "[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown discipline]]".
** The worst, though, comes from "XCVIII"; [[spoiler: Jack and a trio of adorable sheep climb a mountain to find a working time portal. Jack gleefully jumps into the portal, only for Aku to ''drag him back out'' and destroy it, just before revealing that it was the last time portal left. To add insult to injury, Jack ends up killing the sheep in his rage after they are mutated by Aku, and loses his sword down the pit where the time portal used to be]].
** That's somehow still '''not''' the worst! The '''actual''' worst comes at the very end of the series, where [[spoiler:Jack finally accomplishes his goal and goes back to the past with Ashi, now a trusted ally [[LoveInterests and more]], to destroy Aku before his [[BadFuture dark timeline]] can come to pass. [[HappilyEverAfter Happy ending]], right? Except, Ashi is the spawn of Aku, killing him in the past before she is born retroactively erases her. '''Even worse''', this does not happen immediately after Aku is defeated, giving both Jack and the viewers some hope that Father Time might just have given up on keeping track of everything and that Ashi might still survive. Nope. Reality finally catches on to the glitch '''right in the middle of Jack and Ashi's wedding'''. This was so blatantly done to make the ending as cruel as possible (even at the expense of logic itself) that there exists a significant fan outcry against the ending]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Frank Grimes in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy "Homer's Enemy"]]. Mr. Burns sees a documentary about how Grimes went through a hard life and had recently earned a diploma in nuclear physics. Impressed, he tells Mr. Smithers to find him so he can make him his executive vice president. By the time Smithers returns with Grimes, however, Burns had seen a heroic dog on TV and now wants to make ''him'' executive vice president.
--->'''Smithers:''' In the meantime, here's Frank Grimes.\\
''(Burns does not recognize Grimes)''\\
'''Smithers:''' The, the self-made man?\\
'''Burns:''' What? Oh, yes, that fellow. Mmmm, put him somewhere out of the way, and find that dog!\\
'''Smithers:''' [[YesMan Yes sir.]]
** Gil, the unlucky businessman of Springfield, in "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II". The Simpsons let him stay in their house for one night, but he brought all his stuff in and made it into an extended stay. He got on the entire family's nerves, but Marge found herself unable to kick him out because she could not say "no" to him. After an entire year, Gil finally moved to Scottsdale because he got a job as a real estate agent. Marge still had to say "no" to him, so the family went to Scottsdale to talk to him. There, they discovered Gil was actually successful at this job, as everyone acclaimed him. But when Marge finally confronted Gil and shouted at him because of his being so annoying, Gil's co-workers thought was a miserable man, so he was fired.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan,'' it really looks like Peter is the only superhero around, though naturally he's outnumbered by {{supervillain}}s. One can hope that the supervillains are all local. So when J. Jonah Jameson's astronaut son and all-around decent guy gets superpowers and is willing to help, wouldn't it seem like [[BigApplesauce the Big Apple]] finally gets another hero? No, because WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity. Looks like the best Spidey can hope for are supervillains who aren't [[FriendlyEnemy quite]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards evil]] and won't stay local, like Black Cat, Sandman, and Molten Man.
* Squidward from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. Sure he's [[SmallNameBigEgo an egomaniac]] and a jerk, but [[JerkassWoobie people kinda feel sorry for him]] [[ButtMonkey after a while.]]
** In "Bubble Stand" he briefly learns how to play the clarinet well after using [=SpongeBob=]'s technique to blow a giant bubble... until his house gets sucked inside said giant bubble, and it loudly pops, apparently destroying his clarinet skills.
*** It's implied that his skills at the clarinet are tied to his sense of self worth. When he's feeling good about himself, he plays better. When he's aggravated or depressed, his skill plummets, which just makes it all the sadder seeing how down he is all the time.
** In "Squilliam Returns" he briefly impresses Squilliam when [=SpongeBob=] disguises the Krusty Krab as a fancy restaurant... until [=SpongeBob=] goes crazy due to Squidward's earlier ExactWords on forgetting everything that isn't about fine dining, including his name, and destroys everything.
** The biggest moment goes to Plankton in the episode "Plankton's Regular": the episode starts with a man that regularly eats in the Chum Bucket and refuses to even eat a single Krabby Patty. Because of Mr. Krabs being jealous of him, he and [=SpongeBob=] try everything to steal said customer from Plankton, to the point of trying to steal Plankton's recipe for chum. However, at the end of the episode, it's revealed that said customer was paid by Karen to eat in the Chum Bucket so Plankton would stop complaining about his lack of success, but he couldn't eat more chum anymore, regardless of the money (they already pumped his stomach many times). Plankton is left in tears while Krabs laughs at his misery. Note that, even having only one customer, Plankton immediately stopped trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
** [=SpongeBob=] himself is often the victim of this trope as well, usually in episodes focused on trying to get his boating license. It seems that he ''finally'' is going to get it...[[DiabolusExMachina but something random will always happen to prevent [=SpongeBob=] to pass the exam.]]
** Plankton fits quite well here, but he kinda deserves it.
** In the beginning of "Frankendoodle", a live-action artist at sea accidentally drops his only pencil into the ocean, and goes into a depression because now he can't draw. At the end, he gets his pencil back, begins to draw... and breaks the tip on the canvas, not having a pencil sharpener. The episode ends with his anguished screams.
* After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a BrainInAJar throughout the first three seasons of ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003), Baxter Stockman finally regains a whole, human body in the episode "Insane in the Membrane". Unfortunately, it's not long before Stockman's new body begins breaking down, and the doctor begins losing limbs. Worse still, he begins losing the one thing he'd managed to keep throughout his tribulations: his mind. It gets worse for him in "Good Genes, Part 1." Bishop effectively brings him BackFromTheDead in a pseudo-body to continue their work. Stockman laments this development because he thought that he had finally found peace following his previous appearance.
* A rare ''comedic'' example exists in Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''. Pidge and Lance find a store in the Space Mall selling Earth goods, and Pidge gets excited about seeing a video game she likes. She and Lance spend the episode scrounging up enough money to get the game, and once they take it back to the Castle of Lions... it turns out they can't even play it, since it's incompatible with Altean technology. Pidge gets a TwitchyEye and lets out a BigNo at the realization. [[spoiler:Subverted later on, as she does get it to work [[BrickJoke a couple seasons later]].]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Omitown" had Omi thinking he found his long-lost parents, only to learn at the end that they were fakes created by the show's BigBad.
