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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | |
| 7 | LoopholeAbuse in WesternAnimation. |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | |
| 10 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the Ice King claims that Princess Bubblegum said she'd go out with him if he was the last person in Ooo, and succeeds in removing everything else from existence. After PB points out that this is crazy, and furthermore that she's definite she never actually said that, she finds a loophole. |
| 11 | -->'''Princess Bubblegum:''' You're not the last person in Ooo! Because ''I'm still here''! |
| 12 | ** She then spends most of the remainder of the episode making out with her own hand. |
| 13 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': While playing a game of [[{{Calvinball}} Dodj or Daar]] in "The Game," [[CompetitionFreak Nicole]] cheats Anais out of six spaces ahead by pointing out that the dare she took (wear everything in the house) said to wear every''thing'' in the house, not just all of the clothes. |
| 14 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AngelaAnaconda'', Angela is forced into a pogo competition for charity. Despite her lack of skill, she manages to beat Nannette (in fundraising, even though she fails to break her jump record) by using two sticks at once - there was no rule against "double sticking". |
| 15 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': |
| 16 | ** Ain't no rule that a chicken can't have whatever job he wants. No matter how well Chicken Boo does, he'll still get run out of town once he's found out. |
| 17 | ** In a segment with the Warner siblings, a group of nuns get around their disallowance of resorting to physical violence by praying for a football team to arrive and beat up the segment's antagonist for them. |
| 18 | * ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': In the episode "Broodwich", Master Shake receives a demonic sandwich; while it supposedly tastes amazing, if he finishes it he'll get sent to a Hell dimension where a guy with an axe will chop him up. Shake gets around this by removing the sun-dried tomatoes before he finishes the Broodwich, despite the demonic voice that's been trying to get him saying it's impossible to take it apart. [[spoiler:They get him anyway by giving him a lobotomy, then telling him to eat the tomatoes -- which he does.]] |
| 19 | * WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} wins ''Melawan raja'' (one-on-one combat for the title of Pirate King) by [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight pulling out a gun]] and KneeCapping his opponent. |
| 20 | -->'''Archer:''' Suck it! Cause I'm still the king!\ |
| 21 | '''Bucky:''' This no fair! You break the rules! \ |
| 22 | '''Archer:''' What rules?! We're pirates!\ |
| 23 | '''Bucky:''' Melawan raja mean hand-hand combat!\ |
| 24 | '''Archer:''' Boo-hoo, show me! Show me where it says that! Take your time. I'm hourly.\ |
| 25 | '''Bucky:''' ''[flipping through the pirate rule book]'' I know it in here somewhere. Damn! Okay, maybe it don't say this exact words, but ''everybody'' know --\ |
| 26 | '''Archer:''' Noooope! Fair is -- well it wasn't exactly fair, but since it wasn't expressly forbidden, tough titties! |
| 27 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' had an episode where Mr Ratburn sets Arthur and his class an individual assignment - if they were stranded on a desert island, what food would they bring? Arthur and his friends each pick their favourite food, only for Ratburn to tell everyone their choices are poor because if they were to eat that one food while stranded on the island, they would all become unhealthy. Ratburn sets them the task again and one of Arthur's classmates works out that rather than trying to find one healthy food, they need one piece of food from each of the five food groups, and the solution is to form a group of five and where the classmates bring a food from the five different food groups. One of the classmates points out that Ratburn never specified it was a group project, which is then countered with he never said it was not one. In fact, the group goes on to give the report as a group project, where Ratburn passes them. |
| 28 | * ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'' has an episode where Marcie overhears some girls plotting to expose Courtney while she's in the pool. The girls find Marcie and make her not tell anyone about what they are doing. Later, Marcie's friends tell her that the girls never told her she could not use charades so they can guess what the girls were plotting, under the reasoning that guessing something is not the same as telling something. |
| 29 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Batgirl Returns", the eponymous Batgirl agrees to help Catwoman find out who framed her for the theft of the Jade Cat statue, on the condition that she turn herself in to the police if she gets caught in a double-cross. Sure enough, when Catwoman tries to kill the real thief and take the statue for herself, Batgirl makes sure she surrenders. The cops make it to the end of the block before Catwoman slips out of her handcuffs, kicks them out of the car, and steals it. |
| 30 | -->'''Catwoman:''' I said I'd let them take me... but I didn't say how far! |
| 31 | * Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The King of Omashu": The titular king gives Aang a series of tests to free his friends, most of them encouraging him to invoke this trope and think outside the box. For his final test, he is tasked with picking an opponent to fight. Rather than picking one of the intimidating opponents the king of Omashu brought with him, Aang picks the frail-looking old king instead... who turns out to be not only totally ripped, but also one of the strongest Earthbenders in the world. Oops. |
| 32 | * ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': |
| 33 | ** In "Tilly's Goat", Tilly enters Melissa the family goat in a dog show because she thinks she has the spirit of a dog; the only reason Melissa competes was that there was no such rule in the rule book saying a goat can't compete. |
| 34 | ** In "Parade Day", Cricket cannot see the parade because it's also the busiest day of the Café; the only way he manages to get out is through a mandatory 15-minute break. |
| 35 | ** In "Desserted", Cricket discovers his plans to get a free meal for his family have consequences, and consults the rule book for a loophole revealing the sundae will be taken away if it's contaminated; thus he makes a fly fall on it. Unfortunately, he forgot to ReadTheFinePrint under the rule that says once the sundae is taken away, the challenge will be reset. |
| 36 | * In the 1993 ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' episode "The Pits", Lawrence Limburger tries to send out wanted posters promising a $50,000 reward for anyone who brings him the Biker Mice dead or alive. Unfortunately, he didn't anticipate that Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo would turn ''themselves'' in for the cash reward. |
| 37 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBotsMaster'' had a robot playing children's baseball since each team was allowed one robot. (For carrying equipment but the rule didn't specify) |
| 38 | * In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', episode "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E4GarbageBallet Garbage Ballet]]", the mayor forbids Central Park management from collecting trash hoping to lower property prices and visitor numbers allowing her to buy the park and turn it into more real estate. Owen and Esposito look through rules & regulations and find a loophole that allows them to override mayoral authority if the crisis is deemed a hazard to public health. |
| 39 | * ''{{WesternAnimation/Chowder}}'': In "The Sleep Eater", Mung forbids Chowder from having any midnight snacks because his internal clock would go wild. Before Chowder goes to bed, he eats a whole chicken that he kept hidden, saying that it's technically not a snack, but a meal. His internal clock still goes wild, as Mung predicted, and he turns into a super-powerful monster that eats anything in sight every time he falls asleep. |
| 40 | * ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK's'' 90s cartoon adaptation had an episode where Dennis tries to enter a painting into a ''Series/BluePeter'' competition. However, while Dennis is distracted, his dog Gnasher accidentally steps on some paints, and ends up defacing Dennis's canvas, so Gnasher hides this from Dennis by turning the canvas around. When the painting arrives at ''Blue Peter'', Dennis is declared the winner, only to find out the picture that was picked was Gnasher's! When the truth comes out, one of the presenters quickly notes that Gnasher still qualifies as an entrant as he is under 12; ain't no rule saying entrants have to be human. |
| 41 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'': An episode has Doug accidentally breaking a vase that belongs to his mom, and Judy agrees to keep quiet in exchange for Doug being her slave for a week, making him sign an absurdly long written contract to make it official. Naturally, she milks it for all it's worth by having him do her chores and giving him ridiculous orders. When the week's almost over, Judy comes to informs him that, according to their contract, he can't whistle while working in proximity to her (which she said he did while re-skinning her bongos, but Doug claims that his nose was actually wheezing), and to make up for the broken rule, he must serve her another week. He manages to get back at her when he reads the contract and finds that it can be rendered null and void in the event that their parents find out what happened. So he goes and tells his mom the truth about the vase, as there was nothing in the contract that prevented him from confessing his crime. This turns out for the best, as he only gets grounded for a week for taking so long to tell it, and Judy, who was expecting that Doug would clear her costumes out of the basement to attend a party, begs him to let her attend, [[LaserGuidedKarma and he agrees to do so in exchange for a week of her being his slave]]. |
| 42 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': The laws of Katolis state that, should the royal line be extinguished, a new dynasty can only be founded by a orphan. When this comes up during Viren's bid for the throne, he wryly notes that he ''is'' an orphan. He's also a grown man, with children of his own, and in all likeilhood is only an orphan in the sense that his parents have died of old age. |
| 43 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', the characters take part in an apple-bobbing competition with Quetzal telling them that they're not allowed to use their hands to catch the apples. After the first two pairs fail to catch an apple because the apples are too slippery for them to grab by the teeth, Cassie & Emmy win by taking off their shoes and using their bare feet to catch an apple together. Feet aren't hands, after all! |
| 44 | * ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E4WhereNoDuckHasGoneBefore Where No Duck Has Gone Before]]": [[{{Jerkass}} Courage]] thinks he's safe from Scrooge's retribution because he has a five-year contract with the studio. But said contract doesn't determine what job Courage would have, and so Scrooge demotes him to a food vendor, and it prevents him from quitting! |
| 45 | * This trope is what saves the day in the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017''. [[spoiler:Bradford]] has Scrooge dead to rights when he forces him to sign a MagicallyBindingContract stating that he can only have his family if he gives up adventuring. [[spoiler:As the rest of Scrooge's family rushes in to defend him from Bradford's attacks, the triplets get the contract to look it over. Louie laments how airtight it was before he, his brothers and Webby realize the flaw in it -- Scrooge cannot give up adventuring for his family because to him, "family is the greatest adventure of all". Bradford thinks that's the lamest thing ever and wouldn't work until the Contract disintegrates before his eyes.]] |
| 46 | * ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': |
| 47 | ** Rolf held a no-rules race to see who would get a jawbreaker to solve an argument while carrying an egg. Eddy cheated, as per usual, Double D [[GadgeteerGenius made a 2X4 go-kart]], Ed just hobbled (Eddy had tied his shoes together at the start) to the finish, which was right by the start, and won (Ed's egg broke, but Rolf never said the egg had to make it). |
| 48 | ** In "Rambling Ed", Rolf tires of the Eds interfering with his work and tells them not to leave his shed. Afterward, they ''carry the shed from the inside'' to enter Rolf's house and raid his fridge. |
| 49 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''. |
| 50 | ** In "Super Bike", the jerkassy bike Timmy wishes up is invulnerable and cannot be wished away. However, the parts that fall off the bike are ''not'' invulnerable, which clues Timmy in to the bike's weakness. |
| 51 | ** In "Operation F.U.N.", Timmy and his friends are stuck in a horrible military school and his godparents are trapped, in a vulnerable state at the end. With missiles pointed at them. They simply go around the last obstacle. |
| 52 | ** In "Wish Fixers", HP puts {{shock collar}}s on Cosmo and Wanda that will electrify them if Timmy makes a wish that's not approved, and the only wish approved is that he hands control of Fairy World to the pixies. Timmy wishes Cosmo and Wanda were made of rubber, a material that doesn't conduct electricity, and the contract stated that Timmy would be let loose if he broke his bad wish habit, which he technically did by making a very ''smart'' wish that directly benefited his fairies. It also fulfilled the contract's obligation of being a wish that was [[LogicBomb "both responsible and irresponsible"]], since on the one hand, rubber doesn't conduct electricity, but on the other hand, Cosmo and Wanda are now fairy-sized superballs, with all the destructive potential that entails. |
| 53 | ** {{Discussed|Trope}} in the episode where Timmy runs away from home and Cosmo and Wanda took him to a carnival-themed park instead of a circus. Circuses are bound by certain child labor laws carnivals don't have to obey ("they barely obey the laws of physics!") or so Cosmo told Timmy when he explained it was not a circus. |
| 54 | ** In "Five Days of F.L.A.R.G.", the last day of F.L.A.R.G., G, stands for "Goodbye", meaning Mark has to destroy the planet he celebrated on to keep up tradition for Yugopatamia; if he doesn't do it in time, his appendix will destroy the planet instead. The rule states he must destroy the host planet; he can't destroy his home planet. Timmy comes up with an epiphany for Mark to not destroy Earth, because it technically ''is'' his home planet now because he's hiding from Princess Mandie, so he targets Fairy World instead. |
| 55 | ** In "Chin-Up", fairies can go to a comic book convention without getting discovered since so many people turn up to them in costume. |
| 56 | *** Similarly, in "Scary Godparents", fairies can be out on the street on Halloween night without being discovered because the kids are all in costumes trick-or-treating and will simply assume the fairies are costumed kids as well. In general, this is hardly a problem, considering the general populace is dismissive of the existence of fairies. Oddly enough, fairies don't have to worry about being seen by non-human, non-magical races. |
| 57 | ** In "Kung Timmy", Timmy wishes for "amazing kung-fu powers" in order to take revenge on Francis, who'd stolen the Turners' home. However, the "rules of kung-fu" state that it must only be use for self-defense, ''never'' for vengeance, and when Timmy tries to attack Francis, those rules turn out to be magically-binding and Timmy's powers stop working. However, when [[AbhorrentAdmirer Tootie]] arrives to help and [[WouldHitAGirl Francis threatens to beat her up as well]], Timmy's powers suddenly return, since he's now fighting to defend Tootie rather than to hurt Francis. |
| 58 | --->'''Cosmo''': Yeah! Loopholes rock! |
| 59 | ** In "The Crimson Chin Meets Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad", when Timmy accidentally wishes the Nega-Chin out of his comic book, the Nega-Chin makes several wishes, including "immunity from being wished back into the book". The solution? Get the Nega-Chin to wish ''himself'' back into the book by summoning Crimson Chins from every comic book era to team up and beat the crap out of him until he does so. |
| 60 | ** In his second appearance ("The Big Superhero Wish"), the Nega-Chin uses it in ''his'' favor by tricking Timmy into wishing for a world "without superheroes or supervillains", then covering his mouth before he can say "supervillains". |
| 61 | --->'''Nega-Chin''': You heard him! He wished for a world without superheroes! You must grant it!\ |
| 62 | [''Cosmo and Wanda reluctantly raise their wands'']\ |
| 63 | '''Wanda''': [[LampshadeHanging These loopholes are]] ''[[LampshadeHanging so]]'' [[LampshadeHanging annoying]]. |
| 64 | ** In ''School's Out! The Musical'', Flappy Bob signs a contract with the Pixies that transforms Earth based on Flappy Bob's definition of "safe and fun" (read: boring, educational, and covered in six inches of foam padding). [[spoiler:After his HeelFaceTurn, he uses his law experience to point out the obvious loophole in the contract: Earth is safe and fun ''[[ExactWords as defined by Flappy Bob]]''. His definition now? "Everything the way it's supposed to be!"]] |
| 65 | ** In "The Big Fairy Share Scare", Timmy agrees to share his fairies with Chloe, with Chloe getting them on Fridays. Immediately after, Timmy wishes for no more Fridays. |
| 66 | ** In its LiveActionAdaptation, ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'', Timmy is 23, and, according to "Da Rules", he was supposed to have lost his godparents when growing up, but he manages to keep them by [[ManChild living like a child]] (still living with parents, going to school...)[[spoiler:, that is, until ThePowerOfLove begged to differ]]. |
| 67 | ** [[JackassGenie Norm the genie]] employs this multiple times. First, he took advantage of the fact that [[spoiler: his lamp sucks in the nearest source of magical energy, arranging matters so that Cosmo and Wanda would be sucked in]]. Aside from also often playing on people's ExactWords with their wishes, in "Fairy Idol" he [[spoiler: manipulated events to cause Cosmo and Wanda to quit their jobs, as the position would then be open to any magical creature, including him.]] |
| 68 | ** In one episode, Timmy finds out Da Rules forbid helping him win a skating contest. However, he realizes there's nothing stopping him from making wishes to help him practice, and uses it to travel the world and get to ideal practice spots. |
| 69 | ** Poof owes his existence to this trope. Since Cosmo proved to be very dangerously unpredictable when he was born, fairies were forbidden from breeding ever again. Jorgen intended to add another rule forbidding people from wishing for a fairy baby, but never got round to it, and Timmy exploits the resulting loophole to wish for Cosmo and Wanda to have a baby. |
| 70 | ** In the first movie, ''WesternAnimation/AbraCatastrophe'', Crocker finally gets his hands on Timmy's fairies and tries to use his magic to vaporize him. When this doesn't work due to their being rule about not majorly harming a person, [[NeverSayDie or worse]], Crocker comes to the solution that "turning them into ice sculptures and teleporting them to the sun" would work just as well. Disturbingly, although he never got the chance to pull this off, the implication is [[FridgeHorror this is a completely valid way to get around that rule]]. |
| 71 | * ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'': |
| 72 | ** In "Lord of the Rings", Kyle desperately wants to learn a magic trick from Fanboy, but he refuses to tell him because of the rule that "good magicians never reveal their secrets". However, Kyle reads a note saying that exact line but with the addition that the secrets are only revealed to the magician's assistant, so he disguises himself as Chum Chum so he can learn. |
| 73 | ** In "Slime Day", saying a secret TriggerPhrase causes one to be slimed out of nowhere; the phrase in question is "I don't know". Unfortunately, FB and CC ironically don't know the secret phrase, and the rule is the kids can't tell anyone the phrase because they have to discover it themselves. However, there is no rule that states that the secret phrase can't be written down, so the Nickelodeon President gives the boys a cue card with the phrase inscribed on it, and they finally recite the phrase and get slimed. |
| 74 | ** "A Bopwork Orange" has Boog being forced to give up bopping (i.e. hitting) people, lest he lose his job at the Frosty Mart. Fanboy and Chum Chum try to cure him of his bopping habit by using a shock collar on him, which at the end of the episode gives him electrical powers. Upon discovering this, Boog then decides that he'll get around being forbidden to bop by using his new powers to shock Fanboy and Chum Chum. |
| 75 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "A Head in the Polls", Richard Nixon's head ran for President of the Earth. When a reporter pointed out to him that no''body'' could run for President more than twice, Nixon revealed that he had a new robotic body. |
| 76 | * ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': |
| 77 | ** In one "U.S. Acres" segment, Roy Rooster goes on the [[ShowWithinAShow Buddy Bears show]] as "Big Bad Buddy Bird". He becomes the victim of a twisted version of TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong, getting a sixteen ton safe dropped on his head for having even the slightest disagreement with the group. Getting fed up, he refuses to do anymore acting until the bears promise not to drop a sixteen ton safe on him. They promise, only to drop ''two'' sixteen ton safes on him. A later episode has him rejoin them, after having made sure they won't drop any permutation of 16-ton safes on him. Instead they drop other objects, including a much heavier type of safe on him. |
| 78 | ** In "U.S. Acres" episode "Rooster Revenge", Roy's prank victims decided they should play some prank on him, and Orson decided the worst thing he could do was "absolutely nothing". By ''not'' pranking Roy, Orson [[ParanoiaGambit turned Roy's paranoia against him]]. In the end, Roy was visited by an inspector who looked like Orson with a fake mustache. By the time Orson appeared, making Roy realize the inspector wasn't him, Roy had already thrown the inspector into a mud waller. Enraged, the inspector threatened to transfer Roy to the South Pole, and the very idea frightened Roy into running away. The inspector was revealed to be Lanolin playing a prank. Just because Orson said ''he'' wouldn't do anything, that didn't mean ''she'' wouldn't. |
| 79 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': A major plot point of human magic is that more powerful spells are easier to cast if there is [[CurseEscapeClause an escape clause]], though the conditions for the escape clause do not need to be feasibly practical. The main spell book in the series was written some time before 970 AD, so many of the clauses are only infeasible for that time. |
| 80 | ** The IncitingIncident involves the protagonist being cursed to be [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] "until the castle rises above the clouds" which everyone in the 10th century took to mean "til kingdom come". Xanatos breaks the curse by having the castle disassembled and reassembled atop a skyscraper, the top of which broke into the clouds. |
| 81 | ** Puck ''loves'' this trope, and utilizes it multiple times in his introductory episode alone. Bound in iron chains and thus beholden to his jailer's commands, he interprets all of Demona's wishes in whatever way he chooses and not in any way compliant with what she was ''actually'' asking for ("Did you say, [='=]''that'' human,' or 'that ''human''?' Oh, never mind, I'll figure it.") [[HilarityEnsues This ultimately results in every human in Manhattan briefly and unknowingly transformed into a gargoyle, and vice versa]], as Demona never learns to be careful with her wording. |
| 82 | ** Another example from Puck: [[spoiler:Oberon]] strips him forever of all his magical powers except when he is training or protecting young Alexander - but [[spoiler:Oberon]] doesn't impose any restrictions on the timing, frequency or nature of the lessons, and Puck is quick to exploit this. |
| 83 | ** Elisa herself used this trope to free Goliath from a mind-control spell, which had rendered him an unthinking servant to whomever held the scroll which the spell was inscribed on. Picking up the scroll, Elisa ordered Goliath to behave, for the rest of his life, exactly as he would if he weren't under a spell. It's unclear if this actually ''ended'' the spell or not, but Goliath immediately revived and told her that it worked. |
| 84 | ** The four part special "City of Stone" featured two loopholes: |
| 85 | *** For the spell to work, the victim must both see ''and'' hear the spell cast, and in its entirety. Thus, several characters escape being turned to stone - a blind man is spared because he cannot see the spell being cast through his TV. Xanatos avoids becoming a victim as he sees it on TV but mutes the audio. The quick thinking Hudson spares the Gargoyles as turns off the TV before the spell is completed; later, Goliath tells Lex to mute the blind man's TV before they hear more than a couple lines of the spell. |
| 86 | *** The escape clause is "when the sky burns", which prompts the protagonists ([[EnemyMine aided by Xanatos]]) to spray flammable gas across Manhattan and ignite it. |
| 87 | ** Oberon's Children in general tend to be good at utilizing this to get around the magical law preventing them from directly interfering with mortals. Oberon doesn't seem to take any issue with his subjects being creative in this manner, and he himself will do this when it suits him - at one point he granted Goliath's clan the boon of being immune to any of the Third Race's magic, including his own, but later when the gargoyles stood against him and Goliath brought this up, Oberon declared [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem "My decrees are mine to interpret!"]] and used magic against them in ways that didn't involve casting spells directly ''on'' them, such as animating stone sculptures to attack them or creating inclement weather to blow them out of the sky. |
| 88 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': In "Davenport's in Demise", [[MegaCorp Biz-Mart]] was forbidden from building a store in Brighton, so they just build one ''right outside'' city limits. |
| 89 | * ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'': |
| 90 | ** Max uses this a couple times to aid his friend PJ. PJ's father disallowed him from playing with any of the toys in his room so Max, feeling sorry for him, looked for a way to get PJ to be able to play with his toy tank. Unfortunately, basically every ground in existence was expressly forbidden. Max eventually asked about the walls and ceiling, and the two played with the tank there using suction cups. |
| 91 | ** In another episode, PJ's father said he wasn't allowed to move the VCR, but Max noticed he [[ExactWords didn't say]] they couldn't plug into it. |
| 92 | ** PJ uses it himself when he makes contradictory promises by accident. He doesn't ever actually ''tell'' Max that Pete cheated; he just makes it impossible to draw any other conclusion by conspicuously dropping the camera from his hat. |
| 93 | * The ''WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh'' episode "Monster on Trial" has Max Schneider facing legal trouble when a woman named Miss Fresno falsely sues him for injuring her in traffic. Schneider's attempt to defend himself in court leads to himself and most of his class of monster students behind bars. Reggie Moonshroud and Frankentyke are able to avoid capture and try to follow Miss Fresno in order to prove their teacher's innocence. They need to drive, but Frankentyke is too short to reach the pedals without Mr. Schneider's platform shoes and Reggie refuses to drive because he hasn't earned his license and they need a licensed driver in the car. Frankentyke solves this problem by asking a random man if he has a license. The man gets shocked that he is talking to a young Frankenstein monster and bumps his head, getting knocked unconscious. Frankentyke then figures that having Reggie drive while a licensed driver is in the backseat is good enough. |
| 94 | * ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' had the 4th-grade against the 5th-grade in a football game. To accommodate the 5th graders being much larger than them, Arnold and Gerald convince Torvald, who is a fourth grader, but was held back and... well, let's just say they had to bring the class picture to prove it, to play. It backfires when he trips and twists his ankle thirty seconds after the game starts. |
| 95 | * In ''WesternAnimation/HighlanderTheAnimatedSeries'', most of the Immortals have taken the Oath to stop fighting one another under the pain of death. This is demonstrated in the backstory, when Connor [=MacLeod=] tried to fight the BigBad Kortan (who hadn't taken the Oath) and lost his head. Two of the so-called Jettators (from the French ''jette'', "to throw away") still try to find ways to fight Kortan despite the Oath. Matsuda, a cybernetics expert, builds a robot for that purpose. Cornell, a blind astronomer, changes his name to "Orion" and claims that [[ThatManIsDead Cornell is dead]], thus he is still able to fight as Orion. |
| 96 | * In ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Jade loves to do this when it comes to following Jackie around, often using Jackie's ExactWords against him. |
| 97 | ** For instance, she is once told by Jackie to stay with Uncle (the character) without thinking that he is also her uncle. Since he never specified which uncle to stay with, she stays with Jackie. Jade also uses this as an excuse to follow Jackie in one episode after being told once again to "stay with Uncle." |
| 98 | --->'''Jade:''' Didn't say which uncle. |
| 99 | ** Another time, Jackie forbade her from using a jetpack, saying she shouldn't use things if she doesn't know how they work... so she promptly turns around and asks the inventor how it works as soon as Jackie leaves. |
| 100 | ** More examples: |
| 101 | --->'''Jade:''' Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in. So can I--\ |
| 102 | '''Jackie and Black:''' No. ''[drive off to fight the talisman-powered Dark Hand]''\ |
| 103 | '''Jade:''' Wouldn't even let me ask, and if I didn't ask, how am I supposed to know what they said "no" to?\ |
| 104 | '''Jackie:''' Jade, maybe you should go with Uncle.\ |
| 105 | '''Jade:''' Aw! ''[walks off]''\ |
| 106 | ''[Uncle waves goodbye as his train departs]''\ |
| 107 | '''Jade:''' I miss him already.\ |
| 108 | '''Jackie:''' Jade! I told you to go with Uncle, [[ExplainExplainOhCrap not... stay... with... uncle...]]\ |
| 109 | '''Jade:''' No wonder I got confused, too many uncles. |
| 110 | ** Some non-Jade examples include: |
| 111 | *** Shendu refusing to hold up his end of the bargain of giving Valmont his treasure in exchange for the talismans and freeing him from his statue curse. Shendu's reason is because Dark Jackie was the one who brought him the talismans. |
| 112 | *** In the beginning of season 2, the Section 13 agents can't fight the talisman-powered Dark Hand. Captain Black orders all agents to retreat. Jackie runs after their getaway truck. Captain Black says his retreat order includes Jackie. Jackie responds with "I'm not an agent." |
| 113 | *** One episode had a girl named Xu Lin who was cursed to turn into a monster and attack anyone who trespassed on a magic temple. However, as Jade notes, trespassing is entering someplace without permission, and as the only thing living in the temple, Xu Lin must have the authority to invite people in as guests rather than trespassers. Which is proven true as, after inviting Jade in, she doesn't transform when Jade enters, and when her curse activates when Jackie enters later, [[MustBeInvited she only targets Jackie and specifically leaves Jade alone until managing to invite him in afterwards]]. She also can't leave the temple, but Jackie notices that there's nothing prohibiting taking objects out of the temple, so he puts the girl in a suit of armor laying around and uses a shield as a makeshift sled to push the armor, and the girl, out of the temple, freeing her from the curse. |
| 114 | * ''WesternAnimation/JakeAndTheNeverLandPirates'': In "Jake Saves Bucky", according to the Never Land Pirate Code, Bucky has to race the Jolly Roger; if Bucky loses, Captain Hook will own him forever. However, Hook tears out a part of the contract that contains a loophole should Bucky lose; if Bucky's original owner finds the Great Golden Bell and brings it back before sunrise the following day, then Bucky is returned to them. |
| 115 | * In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'', the title character is using his dad's new camera as part of a get-rich-quick scheme to uncover a conspiracy of MoleMen stealing things from underground (it later turns out he was right). Dukey points out that his dad told him, "Touch [the camera] and die," to which Johnny retorts that he's not touching it ''physically'' (he was using a stick to operate it). |
| 116 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': |
| 117 | ** In "The Main Man", Lobo promised Superman that he would leave everyone on Earth alone if the latter rescued him, and he did. In "Hereafter", he got into a brawl with other Leaguers. In orbit. |
| 118 | ** Later in "Hereafter" , he's helping the Justice League fight an alliance of Superman's enemies while Superman is absent. But he doesn't attack any of the Earth-born villains; Lobo just beats up on Kalibak, who isn't from Earth, thereby technically keeping his promise to leave people on/from ''Earth'' alone. |
| 119 | * In the ''Kids From Room 402'' episode "Mrs. [=McCoy=]'s Baby Boy", Nancy learned that Jordan is wealthy [[SecretlyWealthy but doesn't want anyone to find out]] out of fear they'll think she's some kind of RichBitch. Nancy promised not to expose Jordan's secret. However, she started bragging to her friends about having a rich friend. |
| 120 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', there is no rule that Ron can't try out for the Cheer Squad...and there ''really is'' no such rule, even in RealLife. |
| 121 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': |
| 122 | ** No rule that says a 45-year-old high school dropout can't come back and play the last game of the season for his old team, just for the sake of tying a record.[[note]]In RealLife there is.[[/note]] |
| 123 | ** You need Haz-Mat certification to drive a Haz-Mat vehicle, but you don't need one to drive a tow truck ''carrying a Haz-mat vehicle.''[[note]]In real life, the organization would have their own towing vehicle and other procedures and policies for it. [[/note]] |
| 124 | ** Dale wants a guard tower built on his property, but always gets rejected by the zoning board. He finds a loophole by building the tower below mimimum zoning standards making it shorter and narrower than the minimum height for zoning takes effect, and does not build a foundation. The inspector notices this and calls Dale a complete imbecile. The tower soon collapses. |
| 125 | ** The episode "Junkie Business" deals with Strickland Propane taking on a new hire, Leon, who turns out to be an incompetent drug addict - but since he goes into rehab before they fire him, now they legally ''can't'' because with him added on the company is big enough to be covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act, which essentially gives Leon free rein over the entire company.[[note]]In RealLife, Leon wouldn't have been covered by the ADA, because he had only entered rehab an hour before being fired and had used drugs on the job that same day.[[/note]] The day is saved when Hank eventually quits over this, making the company small enough that the AWDA no longer applies, and as such Strickland is able to fire Leon on the spot and then immediately re-hire Hank. |
| 126 | ** The episode "Square Footed Monster" introduces Edgar Hornsby, an aged but crafty city bureaucrat and CoolOldGuy who specializes in finding loopholes to win cases. After Ted Wasanasong's commissioned, poorly built, [=McMansion=] threatened to fall and crush the surrounding homes of Hank and co., the neighbors got together and tore it down before a storm could. Ted sued them for destruction of private property, but Hornsby convinced the judge that according to the ruling of an older case, Hank and friends' actions were legitimated under state law. Ted then leased his property to the city to put an electric relay station, Hornsby agreed to represent them to petition the government to camouflage the eyesore under the condition they name it after him. |
| 127 | * ''WesternAnimation/LaffALympics'': |
| 128 | ** The Really Rottens were usually penalized for cheating. But in the free-form pole-vaulting event, they were allowed to participate as a several-story-tall human tower. As the Rottens made their run, the announcer reminded us that "This is ''free-form'' vaulting. That means ''anything'' goes! So, as ridiculous as this looks, it is ''not'' considered cheating!" Cue the Rottens' usual villainous cheering. |
| 129 | ** In another episode, there was a kangaroo race and the Really Rottens used a mechanical kangaroo instead of a real one. It wasn't considered cheating because "a kangaroo is a kangaroo". They won, but when Snagglepuss revealed that Dirty and Dastardly Dalton were with Mumbly in the kangaroo, they were disqualified anyway because they couldn't have more than one athlete riding their kangaroo. |
| 130 | ** In yet another episode, there was a three-legged race and the Really Rottens were running on a treadmill attached to a vehicle driven by Dread Baron, who tried to pass it as a legit strategy because all the rules required was that they ran on three legs over the race course. However, they were disqualified and lost 25 points for it and another 25 points for forging the rule book Dread Baron presented to trick the judges into thinking the trick was legal. |
| 131 | * Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', set in a world where people can manipulate earth, air, fire or water (but only one) with the exception of the Avatar, Korra, who can do all four. When Korra plays a sport and bends multiple elements, the judges hold an impromptu session and [[ObviousRulePatch quickly determine that Korra limit herself to only waterbending]]. |
| 132 | ** Early in the episode, Korra noted to her master she was only banned from watching a match, not listening to one on the radio. Didn't keep Tenzin from getting angry at her. |
| 133 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'': In "Lions of the Outlands", Kion encounters the outsiders led by Zira, who convince him not to use the Roar of the Elders against them because she claims Scar lost his Roar when he used it on his own Lion Guard. Luckily, Bunga encourages him that's not true and the reason Scar lost the Roar was because he used it for evil, which includes against lions, which in turn gives Kion his confidence back. |
| 134 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals'' animated episode "Science Fair and Foul", Buckwheat makes the other boys promise not to peek at his science fair project before the fair is held. But since ''Darla'' wasn't in on that promise, Spanky decides that they, Alfalfa and Porky can inspect Buckwheat's project on the sly. |
| 135 | * The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' BaseballEpisode "Gone Batty" features a rather unfair matchup between a team of big, muscular bullies called the Greenvile Goons, and a team of much smaller, weaker guys called the Sweetwater Shnooks. After the Goons gain an overwhelming lead of 157 to nothing, the Shnooks decide to have their mascot, a baby elephant named Bobo, act as relief pitcher. The Goons complain to the umpire, but he angrily shouts at them, "There's nothing in the rule book that says an elephant can't pitch!" and tells them to play ball. (And that's ''very'' bad news for the Goons, because after getting over an initial bout of stage fright, Bobo is seriously able to turn the game around.) |
| 136 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'', the doctor cuts Bugs off his caffeine. In TheStinger it's revealed that the doctor told him "One cup of coffee a day can't hurt"... so he just bought a really gigantic coffee cup. |
| 137 | * ''WesternAnimation/MaxAndRuby'': In "Ruby's Jewelry Box", Max has his sights set on a jewelry box Ruby owns, and Ruby tries to stop him with a keep-out sign on her bedroom door reading "No! This means you!". Since the sign does not specify who can't enter the room, Max takes this to his advantage in the final scene and uses the sign to keep ''Ruby'' out. |
| 138 | * ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': |
| 139 | ** In "The Collector", Adrien is grounded after his father discovers he took his book from his safe. Adrien gets around this by morphing into Cat Noir and escaping through a window, the reasoning being that Adrien was the one who was grounded, not Cat Noir. |
| 140 | ** In "Silencer", the titular villain steals Ladybug's voice, leaving her unable to summon a Lucky Charm since her powers are voice-activated. Instead, she tricks him into summoning it for her by getting him to say "Lucky Charm" with her stolen voice. |
| 141 | ** The Butterfly Miraculous [[NoSelfBuffs cannot be used to empower its own wielder]]. Hawk Moth has managed to circumvent this restriction in two different ways: |
| 142 | *** In "The Collector", he creates an Akuma, then detransforms and renounces his ownership of the Butterfly Miraculous, and ''then'' takes the Akuma to become the titular villain. This had the additional benefit of throwing the heroes off his true identity, since they were beginning to figure it out, but his Akumatization "proved" he couldn't possibly be Hawk Moth since they were aware of the "can't empower yourself" restriction but not the loophole. After he's defeated he simply reclaims ownership of the Butterfly Miraculous and resumes his usual activities as Hawk Moth. Gabriel would go on to repeat this trick three more times. In "Dearest Family", he does it to test his new Megakuma, briefly turning into Collector again. In "Representation", he becomes Nightormentor to keep tabs on a disobedient Adrien. In "Conformation", he becomes Nightormentor again to spread fear among the world's population as the first step of [[FalseFlagOperation Operation Perfect Alliance]]. |
| 143 | *** In "Catalyst", he grants a willing accomplice the ability to amplify other people's powers, then has her use it on him. |
| 144 | ** Also, the Butterfly Miraculous' Akumatization preys on a single emotion and a single object tied to that emotion, but not a single ''person'' specifically. Hawk Moth/Shadow Moth has exploited this a ''lot''. |
| 145 | *** The first instance of this was Etta and Ella Césaire, whose shared disappointment over losing their chance to go to an amusement park allowed Hawk Moth to Akumatize them into the Sapotis. |
| 146 | *** The second instance happens when he gets Alya Césaire and Nino Lahiffe over their shared embarassment at being caught playing ''Super Penguino''. This causes them to undergo a FusionDance and become Oblivio. |
| 147 | *** Next came the Punisher Trio, consisting of Lady Wifi (Alya), Reflekta (Juleka Couffaine), and Princess Fragrance (Rose Lavillant). Hawk Moth sends an Akuma while they're all holding the same tablet, and successfully Akumatizes them all at once because they're all mad at Adrien. |
| 148 | *** In the first half of the "Battle of the Miraculous" two-parter, Hawk Moth preys upon André and Audrey Bourgeois while they're arguing with each other during their 20th wedding anniversary. Like with Oblivio, they undergo a FusionDance when Akumatized, turning into Heart Hunter. |
| 149 | *** Then there's the Gang of Secrets, which includes all three villians from the Punisher Trio plus Timebreaker (Alix Kubdel) and Horrificator (Mylène Haprèle). Again, their civillian selves are all angry at somebody (in this case, Marinette) when Shadow Moth sends an Akuma, but since they're all emotionally tied to the same object (a friendship bracelet), it works despite the fact that they're not all touching it. |
| 150 | *** It happens again in "Crocoduel" with Guitar Villain (Jagged Stone) and Captain Hardrock (Anarka Couffaine), who are Akumatized simultaneously when Shadow Moth catches them arguing with each other over a broken record. |
| 151 | *** And once more in "Dearest Family", this time with Weredad (Tom Dupain), Qilin (Sabine Cheng), Befana (Gina Dupain) and Bakerix (Rolland Dupain). While they're bickering over who among them knows what's best for Marinette, Shadow Moth's new Megakuma possesses what's left of a galette that all four had eaten a portion of. |
| 152 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Motorcity}}'': In his debut episode, the Duke of Detroit pulls this twofold after putting a bounty on the Burners. First, he only pays Rayon half of the bounty for giving their location away because he didn't actually hand over the Burners. Then, he weasels his way out of paying ''anyone'' the other half due to the fact that he and his forces caught the Burners themselves. |
| 153 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]]": When the other ponies catch up to Applejack and want to know why she isn't returning to Ponyville, Applejack is put into a Pinkie Promise saying that she'll explain after breakfast. The next morning, she's nowhere to be seen - Applejack never made breakfast and ran for the nearest train station. [[BerserkButton Pinkie Pie was not pleased.]] Technically, Applejack didn't break her promise, she just ducked it altogether. |
| 154 | -->'''Pinkie Pie:''' Applejack, you broke your Pinkie Promise! Apologize!\ |
| 155 | '''Applejack:''' Pinkie, I did ''not'' break my promise!\ |
| 156 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' Wha?\ |
| 157 | '''Applejack:''' If y'all reckon back, I told you that I would tell you everything ''at breakfast''! But I didn't come for breakfast. I ''couldn't'' come to that breakfast! Not if it mean telling you all what happened.\ |
| 158 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' Well, I... I...\ |
| 159 | '''Applejack:''' I'm sorry, Pinkie, but I can't tell y'all the truth. I just can't!\ |
| 160 | '''Pinkie Pie:''' Well, I heard a sorry in there, so that'll have to do for now. |
| 161 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': |
| 162 | ** In the episode "Find Her, Keep Her", Rabbit scolds Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger for teaching Kessie how to fly. Pooh points out that Rabbit only said for Owl not to teach her. |
| 163 | ** In "Babysitter Blues", Christopher Robin is sent back to bed by the babysitter following the FakeOutOpening; Tigger prompts him not to stop the fun because the babysitter said "Get into bed," but she ''didn't'' say "Go to sleep." |
| 164 | ** In "Sorry, Wrong Slusher", Christopher Robin's mother sends Christopher Robin to bed, telling him she doesn't want to see his head leave the pillow. Christopher then straps the pillow to his head and sneaks downstairs to watch late-night television, because his mother never said anything about the pillow leaving the bed. |
| 165 | * ''WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures'': In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/NoddyInToytown'', Noddy is attempting to tow a giant jelly with his car, only for it to become unhitched as he is going up a hill, so it rolls back down it. The jelly rolls into Toytown where Noddy is finally able to stop it. An amused Mr. Plod (the policeman) sees the jelly and consults his rule book, and while there is a section on jelly there is nothing against the law over speeding jellies. |
| 166 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhantomInvestigators'', the gang had to deal with two ghosts haunting an old fraternity house. In life, the ghosts were desperate to join the fraternity, but had to complete an unpleasant task in order to join. A demon powered by humiliation agreed to complete the task for them so long as they agreed to serve the fraternity. But only after they died, did they realize he meant forever. They were stuck as servants to the demon, humiliating themselves for eternity for the demon to feed on them both, until the gang pointed out the loophole in the deal. The fraternity had long since closed down, and they were the only remaining members. If they both chose to quit the fraternity the contract would be invalid as there would be no fraternity left. The ghosts immediately quit the fraternity, freeing both their spirits and leaving the demon to wither without a source of food. |
| 167 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': |
| 168 | ** The titular protagonists are kids, and thus don't have driver's licenses and aren't allowed to drive. Thus, they simply drive vehicles via remote controls. |
| 169 | ** In episode "Agent Doof", Doofenshmirtz decided to become an agent of O.W.C.A. Because of the time he was raised by ocelots, he technically meets the basic requirement for the job (being an animal). This is likely also how [[spoiler:Vanessa was able to get an internship with the organization]] in the series finale. |
| 170 | ** Another O.W.C.A. one, [[spoiler: Stacy is able to get away with knowing Perry's secret because she's not part of his host family. This however, does not explain why she ''did'' get her memory erased at the end of ''Across the 2nd Dimension'']]. |
| 171 | ** Candace and Linda once signed an agreement regarding Candace busting her brothers. One of the terms was that Candace couldn't try to bust them more than once per day. [[WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve Cue to midnight]], and Linda was considering adding a new clause to their agreement. |
| 172 | ** On New Year's Eve, Candace is having a relapse over a resolution to stop her busting obsession; upon learning someone else doesn't have to fulfill their resolution until midnight, this inspires her to resume her obsession until then. |
| 173 | * ''WesternAnimation/PixieDixieAndMrJinks'', a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHBJL3q_W-Qv Cartoon Network short]], Pixie and Dixie sick of constantly being tormented by Mr. Jinks, go to court and have a [[HollywoodRestrainingOrder restraining order]] on him (literally; it is pinned to his chest), ensuring that he can't come within three feet of either one of them without the cops jumping on him in a BigBallOfViolence, even if Pixie and Dixie are the ones to come near ''him''. In the end, Jinks is able to get around it by using the ExactWords of the restraining order ("Whosoever wears this is not to come within three feet of Pixie and/or Dixie") to his advantage, simply yanking the order off of his chest and sticking it to a grandfather clock in the WraparoundBackground. |
| 174 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': |
| 175 | ** In "Bought and Scold", [[SpoiledBrat Princess Morbucks]] manages to bribe the Mayor into letting her be the new Mayor of Townsville, and her first decree is that crime is legal so that the girls can't stop her or fight crime, leaving them helpless against burglary. [[spoiler: Luckily, the girls manage to use this to their advantage by robbing HER, making her reverse the law. On top of that, since they stole while the "crime = legal" law was in effect, they were able to bargain all her (dad's) stuff for giving Townsville back to the Mayor.]] |
| 176 | ** Ms. Keane gives the Girls this in "Schoolhouse Rocked" when the Gangreen Gang are enrolled into Pokey Oaks Kindergarten and start brutally beating up the other kids during a game of dodgeball. She tells the girls that, since she doesn't allow fighting in school, she instead tells them to go outside and join the dodgeball game as a clear excuse to beat the gang up. |
| 177 | ** In "HIM Diddle Riddle", HIM is holding Professor Utonium hostage and will only release him if the girls solve all of his riddles, one of which is to bring tears to the eyes of every citizen of Townsville. While Buttercup beats the citizens up and Bubbles tells them her puppy's lost to make them cry, [[RoadsideWave Blossom gets splashed with water by a passing car]], which Bubbles mistakes for her crying. Blossom then gets the idea for the girls to make a rain cloud to rain on the citizens of Townsville, since HIM only said they had to bring tears to their eyes, not make them come from them. |
| 178 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', Penny wants to try out for the football team. Subverted, when she tells the coach there's no rule saying she can't play, he still refuses due to his "girl's can't play sports" viewpoint, despite the fact she is clearly better than any of the guys on the team. Double subverted when her friend's mother is a lawyer who forces the coach to let her on the team. And shockingly triple subverted when the Couch allows her on the team, but states there was no rule that made him have to let her actually participate in the game. |
| 179 | * The ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' episode "Growing Pain" has the protagonist competing with Margaux Kramer in making a float for a local civic parade. When she uses Glomer (who has grown to giant size due to a pepperoni pizza allergy) as her float, Margaux (whose float is a bust of herself) accuses Punky of cheating. Punky counters that there is nothing in the rules against using a glomley as a float. |
| 180 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': |
| 181 | ** At the end of "Solar Power Rover", Jet makes some solar powered lanterns, and puts them in the background. Celery then comes and tells him its time to go to bed, since it's getting dark. But because of the lanterns, it will be bright all night. |
| 182 | ** In "A Visit to the Planetarium", Sydney and Sean say that Jet can't say he's from Bortron 7. Jet sings a song at the planetarium and mentions Bortron. However, he never said he was from Bortron 7. |
| 183 | * ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'': In "Banned on the Run", when Merv Stimpleton manages to get skateboarding and rolling skating on the boardwalk outlawed, it was only applied to there. His wife, Violet, notices that the [[LaserGuidedKarma kids were using the unused empty pool]] as an alternative, and she was rather quite pleased [[spoiler: that Merv was faking his injuries to get his way. This leads to the creation of Madtown Skate Park]]. |
| 184 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In "[[Recap/RugratsS8E11AStepAtATimeAngelicasAssistant Angelica's Assistant]]", Charlotte tells Angelica not to be mean to the babies or she will return the new Cynthia Dream Yacht she bought her to the toy store. When Angelica hears about people hiring assistants to do things they can't or don't want do themselves for them, she decides to pick Harold, a kid from her preschool to be her assistant and be mean to the babies on her behalf because she wasn't allowed to be mean herself. [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Harold befriends the babies and can't bring himself to be mean to them]]. [[spoiler:Charlotte caught Angelica showing her "assistant" how to be mean, and the plan backfired.]] |
| 185 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretShow'' featured a clown who ran for the title of "World Leader". His strategy consisted of renaming himself after the ballot's instruction of where to insert the X and count on confused voters. Not only the strategy was declared legal, but it [[RefugeInAudacity WORKED]]! |
| 186 | * ''WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel'': |
| 187 | ** In the original 1960's cartoon, one episode had Secret Squirrel's boss Double Q threaten to fire him if he doesn't enter his office using a door. When Secret enters by creating a door that goes through the ceiling, Double Q states that Secret is fired for not using the front door, but is forced to call it off when Morocco Mole points out to Double Q that he said "''a'' door" without specifying that he meant the front door. |
| 188 | ** One of the 90's revival segments on ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' had Secret told to stop a rampaging panda ''without hurting it'', as it was an endangered species. Secret's solution: Become his "bodyguard" and play a game of "Stop Hitting Yourself" with him. More specifically, said panda is not allowed to be harmed by anyone--and that includes the panda himself, which allows the cops to arrest him. |
| 189 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 190 | ** Inverted and subverted in an episode where Homer enters a ''Series/RobotWars''-style contest as a robot. He is about to be awarded a trophy by one of the two judges only for the other to protest that he can't do that. |
| 191 | --->'''Announcer 1:''' Tell me where in the rule book it says that a human can't participate in a robot fighting competition!\ |
| 192 | '''Announcer 2:''' Right here, rule number 1. |
| 193 | ** A similar scenario occurs when Homer [[AnimalAthleteLoophole trains a horse to be a football player]]. He then reads the rulebook which says they can't play in the [=NFL=]. |
| 194 | --->'''Homer:''' Great work, Duncan! You're ten-for-ten! Now let's just check the rulebook to see if horses can play in the NFL.\ |
| 195 | ''[a beat as Homer looks through the rulebook]''\ |
| 196 | '''Homer:''' ...D'oh! |
| 197 | ** And parodied by a mock movie trailer for "Soccer Mummy". Ain't no rule that says a centuries old Egyptian mummy can't play soccer! |
| 198 | ** When a secret society Homer is made leader of wants to reform without him, they become the society of "No Homers". When he complains that they already let ''another'' guy named Homer in, they respond, "It says 'No Homer''s''.' We're allowed to have ''one''." |
| 199 | ** But perhaps the funniest example occurred in an early "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode, where Lisa dreams that she and her family purchase a magical Moroccan "monkey's paw" that grants four wishes but also finds some way to screw the wisher over while adhering to the wording of the wish. After the second and third wishes result in unmitigated disasters, Homer declares that he has thought of a completely foolproof wish: "I want a turkey sandwich....on rye bread....with mustard - and - ''and'' - I don't want any zombie-turkeys, and I don't want to turn into a turkey myself, and I don't want any other weird surprises. ''Got it?!''" Homer's sandwich then appears as requested, and he promptly bites into it....and then throws a tantrum because the turkey is a little dry. See, [[JackassGenie he said he didn't want any WEIRD surprises]]. |
| 200 | ** Invoked by Homer in another "Treehouse of Horror" where he sells his soul for a donut. He eventually realises that if he doesn't finish the donut, he won't have to go to Hell. It works... until he sleepwalks to the kitchen later that night and eats it. |
| 201 | ** Later in the same episode, Homer is on trial for his soul. He's saved when Marge shows a picture of them, on the back of which Homer wrote that his soul belongs to Marge. Apparently, this is legally-binding and, thus, supercedes the agreement between Homer and Ned the Devil. |
| 202 | ** In a flashback episode showing Marge pregnant with Maggie, Marge was afraid of Homer's reaction to the pregnancy so she asked her sisters to promise not to tell him about it and they agreed. Since they promised not to tell ''Homer'' about the pregnancy, they call up the two biggest gossips in Springfield, and in a matter of hours everyone in town ''except'' Homer knows, which means he finds out anyway. |
| 203 | ** That's how Cletus Spuckler could get so many pretzels (for every one of his many children) from Marge, who was giving coupons valid for a free sample. She forgot to state that she would accept only '''one coupon per customer'''. At least this helped her to know the name of every Cletus' child... |
| 204 | --->'''Marge:''' Hrm... I ''knew'' I should have have put "Limit One Per Customer" on those.\ |
| 205 | '''Cletus:''' Shoulda, but did'na. |
| 206 | ** In the episode where the Simpsons are visiting a {{Bland Name|Product}} [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkberry Pinkberry]], Homer is asked to choose his mixed-in topping. In a [[SmartBall rare moment of brilliance]] Homer chooses the '''tip jar''', which is located right next to the toppings, and the acne teen behind the counter has no choice but to comply. |
| 207 | ** Also comes up in the episode in which Lisa has to babysit Bart (which ''really'' offends him, since he's two years older than her). Once he's pushed her too far with all his pranks and dumb stunts, she orders him to go to bed - and he continues to disobey her, coming up with various excuses for doing so. For example, going into her room and jumping on ''her'' bed ("You didn't say ''which'' bed!"). He also comes up with a much lamer excuse when he goes into the kitchen and makes a sandwich, "explaining" that [[PoorCommunicationKills he thought she'd told him]] to "go to ''bread''." |
| 208 | ** A commercial for Nabisco's Ritz Bits S'mores sandwiches has Comic Book Guy offer to trade Bart a mint condition chocolate statue of Radioactive Man and the first Radioactive Man comic book for the box. Bart agrees and hands him the box. Comic Book Guy finds out the box is empty. Bart responds [[ExactWords "You said 'the box'".]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0dMoZhDKxA The commercial can be viewed here]]. |
| 209 | ** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E18ThisLittleWiggy "This Little Wiggy"]] while Bart was at Ralph Wiggum's house: |
| 210 | --->'''Bart''': C'mon, Ralph, your dad's a cop. There's gotta be some cool stuff around here. Bullets, dead body photos, what have you. \ |
| 211 | '''Ralph''': He keeps that stuff in his closet, but he says I'm not allowed in there. \ |
| 212 | '''Bart''': Did he say ''I'm'' not allowed in there? \ |
| 213 | '''Ralph''': [[SubvertedTrope Yes.]] |
| 214 | * ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'': Believing that picking either of her two best witch friends as witch of honor for her Cauldronation Day would make the other witch too upset, Lucinda picks Sofia instead. When Sofia's non-witch status is used to challenge the decision, Lucinda's mother reads the cauldronation rules and finds no rules saying the witch of honor must be a real witch. |
| 215 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "The Sidekick", Sonic fires Tails as a sidekick out of concern for his safety. He then puts up flyers looking for a new one, with the note "All qualified candidates welcome". Not only does this allow Tails to apply for his job back, it also allows ''Dr. Eggman'' to apply, so he can try to destroy Sonic up close and personal. |
| 216 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 217 | ** Jimbo & Ned claim that the wild animals they hunt are "coming right for us!" in order to justify killing them in self-defense. Later that loophole is closed so they use another: they have to thin out the numbers of the wild animals so they don't overpopulate. "See, we ''have'' to kill animals, or else they'll ''die''." |
| 218 | ** There also ain't no rule that a peewee hockey team can't stand in for the Colorado Avalanche against the Detroit Red Wings. |
| 219 | ** How they got away with Muhammad in episodes 200 and 201 by using various costumed and concealing methods in script, all PlayedForLaughs. Then they [[ExecutiveMeddling just censored his name and the entire "I learned something" speech]]. Cue several episodes of [[TakeThat retribution]]. |
| 220 | ** There's also "Christian Rock Hard," where Cartman makes a bet with Kyle that the first to make an album that sells 1,000,000 copies and goes Platinum has to pay the other money. Cartman forms a Christian Rock band and manages to sell 1,000,000 copies first and it seems like he's won... until he learns that Christian Rock doesn't give out Platinum albums and gives out myrrh instead. Since the bet specified Platinum, Cartman is dejected to learn that he won't be able to win it. |
| 221 | ** "The Red Badge of Gayness" has Cartman make a bet with Kyle and Stan that in their re-enactment of the Civil War the Confederacy (whose side Cartman is on) can actually beat the Union (whose side Stan and Kyle are on), and the loser has to be the other's slave(s). After a lot of trouble, Stan and Kyle are eventually able to thwart him and make him lose... however, Cartman then reminds them that since the Union won, slavery is abolished, so he ''can't'' be Stan and Kyle's slave. |
| 222 | ** In ''Good Times With Weapons'', the kids are pretending to be ninjas and Cartman keeps [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands giving his character too many powers]]. Kyle finally says that Cartman is only allowed to have one power, so Cartman chooses "the power to have all the powers I want". [[DefiedTrope Kyle then immediately declares that doesn't count, and Cartman doesn't get to have any powers]]. Although he gets them back later in the episode. |
| 223 | ** The "Imaginationland" 3-parter is practically made up of this trope when it involves Cartman and Kyle's subplot. Kyle and Cartman make a bet about whether a leprechaun from Imaginationland that they encountered is real or not, and if it is then Kyle has to suck Cartman's balls. Part of the story involves proving to the United States Government whether Imaginary characters are real or not, and if so then Kyle would have to live up to the wager. Ultimately, [[spoiler: Cartman creates Imaginary versions of himself and Kyle, who proceeds to happily start sucking the balls of the former. Cartman states that Kyle still had to suck his balls, but Kyle states that he isn't really doing it so it doesn't count. Cartman proceeds to counter that since Kyle won the petition that Imaginary characters are real, their counterparts are just as real as anyone else, so Kyle technically really is sucking his balls.]] |
| 224 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': |
| 225 | ** In "Arrgh!", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are told not to look at Mr. Krabs' treasure map, as "only the captain can lay eyes on the map". Later, when they sneak into his tent, they find the map and start poking it, as there's no rule against ''touching'' the map. But then the map opens, and the two look at it anyway, and it's revealed the map was just their board game taped to a piece of paper. |
| 226 | ** In "Walking Small" after [=SpongeBob=] realizes Plankton tricked him into becoming aggressive to get everyone to leave Goo Lagoon so he can turn the place into his new Mega Bucket restaurant, he tells him NiceGuysFinishLast and aggressive people get what they want; but ''not'' "aggressively nice" people, as [=SpongeBob=] suggests, which he then uses to undo all the damage he caused when tricked. |
| 227 | ** In "Shanghaied", the Flying Dutchman intends to eat [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward, but he first gives them three wishes. [=SpongeBob=] uses the last one to wish that the Dutchman was a vegetarian, but the latter still intends to eat them; he just turned them into fruits to blend them into a smoothie. |
| 228 | ** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS12E21WhoRZooTheKwarantinedKrab Who R Zoo?]]", [=SpongeBob=] is caught sneaking into the animal enclosures at the Bikini Bottom Zoo, and the zookeeper puts an anklet around his foot which will go off should he do it again. [=SpongeBob=] tries getting around this restriction by stretching himself into the giraffe enclosure while leaving the anklet outside, but the zookeeper finds out and in return, [=SpongeBob=] is banned from the zoo. |
| 229 | ** In "Knock, Knock, Who's There?", [=SpongeBob=] is asked to watch Mr. Krabs' house while he's away at a convention; in addition to being on the lookout for of burglars, Mr. Krabs gives a rule to not "set foot" in his bedroom. When [=SpongeBob=] is about to inspect said bedroom, he gets around said law by using a balloon to ''float'' through the bedroom, and when it pops, he uses his hands instead. |
| 230 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': |
| 231 | ** At the end of the Zygerria arc, Obi-Wan and Rex corner slavedriver Agruss. While Obi-Wan clearly wants the bastard dead, Agruss points out that despite the atrocities he's committed, killing him when he's unable to defend himself would be against the Jedi Code. Obi-Wan silently agrees... and then simply stands by and does nothing to stop Rex from killing Agruss instead. |
| 232 | --->'''Agruss:''' Come now, master Kenobi. I know a Jedi won't kill an unarmed man.\ |
| 233 | '''Rex:''' I'm no Jedi. |
| 234 | ** At the start of the Siege of Mandalore/Order 66 arc, when the plan to invade Mandalore and capture Maul is disrupted by General Grievous' attack on Coruscant, Anakin proposes giving Ahsoka control over half of the 501st Legion, so she'll have the necessary manpower to attack Mandalore while Anakin and Obi-Wan head to Coruscant and rescue Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan counters this idea by mentioning that Ahsoka, having left the Jedi Order, is no longer a part of the Grand Army of the Republic and therefore cannot formally command Republic forces. Anakin's revised proposal is to promote Captain Rex to Commander so he can lead the Republic troops independently, and Anakin then appoints Ahsoka as Rex's advisor so she can still unofficially take command (and given that the clones still treat her as having her former rank of Jedi Commander, it's as if nothing had changed). |
| 235 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': It's revealed during the Battle For Mewni that [[spoiler: decades ago, Moon learned the spell that could bypass [[KnightOfCerebus Toffee]]'s HealingFactor by making a deal with [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen]] [[SealedEvilInACan Eclipsa]], promising her that Eclipsa would be released from her prison when Toffee was ''dead''. So Moon simply injured him with the spell, knowing his armies would flee when their general no longer had his HealingFactor, and keeping Eclipsa sealed]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: Toffee proves to be too much of a threat to live, forcing Star to kill him, and unknowingly setting Eclipsa free]]. |
| 236 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Long ago, ''something'' happened that rendered Pearl physically incapable of telling anyone what really happened to Pink Diamond. She realizes that there’s not anything preventing her from ''showing it'' to Steven indirectly, so she gets him to go into her Gem and displays her memory. |
| 237 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Stoked}}'' episode "Boards of Glory", Reef and Broseph compete in the tandem surf competition after Lo discovers that there is nothing in the rules that specifies that the pair must be male and female. |
| 238 | * ''WesternAnimation/SunnyDay'': In the climax of "The Topi-Hairy Contest", after her entry in a topiary contest is destroyed by Lacey, Sunny asks Timmy the judge if the rules say the topiary has to be made from a tree. When he finds there is no rule that states such, she then proceeds to win the contest by sculpting a new topiary out of her own hair. |
| 239 | * ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' had to abide by the DC mandate that Superman was the last Kryptonian (excluding the two Phantom Zone detainees, who didn't count because they were evil). So when they introduced Supergirl, they made sure that she wasn't Kryptonian, but Argonian. Argo may have been a sister planet of Krypton and populated by Kryptonian settlers, and Kara may have been its sole survivor (Argo was knocked out of its orbit by Krypton exploding, but Kara's mom kept her alive in cryogenic stasis), but technically, she was not a Kryptonian and so she passed legal. |
| 240 | * Used in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'', when Splinter sets the turtles a training task of carrying a glass of water from one side of the room to the other without spilling a single drop. When the turtles are attacked halfway through the exercise and the glass and its contents are thrown into the air, Donnie responds by catching the water in his mouth and swallowing it, and pointing out to Splinter that even though the glass is empty, technically it didn't spill since none of the water hit the floor. Splinter approves of this interpretation of the rules and considers the test a success. |
| 241 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Toonsylvania}}'': |
| 242 | ** The ''Night of the Living Fred'' segment had this happen in the episode "In Or Out". The principal, during a yearly visit to Fred Deadman's classroom, figured out Fred is, as his surname suggests, dead and decided to expel him for that. After he was told there's no rule against dead kids attending school, the principal simply established the rule, {{subvert|edTrope}}ing the trope. |
| 243 | ** In "Phil's Brain", Dr. Vic ordered Igor to take the garbage out but Igor replied that his union doesn't allow him to do it. (In fact, it's the only thing the union forbids him from doing) Dr. Vic then ordered Igor to make sure Phil takes the garbage out otherwise ''Igor'' will be punished. |
| 244 | ** In another ''Night of the Living Fred'' episode, "Dead Dog Day Afternoon", Fred took his dead and stuffed dog, Frisky, to a dog show. Frisky was allowed in because there was no rule against dead dogs entering. Frisky won because the last event was a "stay" and the points for it were more than any other dog had got after the other events. |
| 245 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' episode "Run Pig Run," Spider-Man is [[ForcedTransformation transfigured into a pig]] by Loki and thus made the target of an Asgardian boar hunt. In comes Thor, but sadly, Thor doesn't have the authority to call off the hunt. As Thor tells the hunters, however, he may not be able to officially call off the hunt, but there's nothing in the rules that says Thor can't interfere with the hunt and slow them down until sunset. |
| 246 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', [[BigBad The Monarch]] and [[TheDragon Dr. Girlfriend/Dr. Mrs. The Monarch]] are constantly abusing loopholes within the rules of the [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Guild of Calamitous Intent]] to get what they want. A few prime examples: |
| 247 | ** When the Guild banned Monarch from arching Rusty Venture, [[spoiler: they went after his brother Jonas Jr. instead. When JJ escalated his attacks into trying to outright kill the Monarch (being baited into doing so by the Monarch), this allowed Monarch to extend his arching to JJ's guild-sanctioned immediate family, including Rusty.]] |
| 248 | ** When supervillain/lawyer Monstroso [[spoiler:attempted to double-cross the Monarch, taking control of his estate as well as Venture's, Monarch was forbidden by the Guild to do interfere, since they actually ''encourage'' the double cross. When he and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch found out that Henchman 21 was acting on his own to stop Monstroso, they didn't stop him, since a renegade henchman wasn't covered by the "no interfering with a double cross" rule since they didn't order him to do it.]] |
| 249 | ** When Rusty was [[spoiler:captured by a group of supervillains at a Guild nightclub, they planned to kill him by dropping him into a vat of acid. Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch were called in and, citing their rights as Venture's primary arches, [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou prevented the other guild members from killing him]]]]. |
| 250 | * Walt Disney: |
| 251 | ** The short ''The Art of Self Defense'' has Goofy attempting to exploit the "No hitting below the belt" rule twice in a row against his opponent by hitching his pants up to his armpits (which gets him punched in the face) and eventually up to where only the top of his head is exposed (his opponent merely pounds him there). |
| 252 | ** The WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck wartime short "WesternAnimation/TheVanishingPrivate", Donald is convinced he's found a loophole when he sees the "KEEP OUT" sign over the door to the Camouflage Corps' experimental lab and says to himself, "It didn't say 'positively'!" So he walks right in. (And since the lab appears to be empty of people, he gets away with it.) |
| 253 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' short ''Ski For Two'', Woody attempts to enter a lodge owned by Wally Walrus, only to be rejected due to the lodge only allowing those with reservations to stay there. So Woody promptly gives him lots of reservations...or rather, reservations Woody has made to other resorts and lodges. |
| 254 | * In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': |
| 255 | ** The monks in training are faced with a circular obstacle course that they must complete by taking a small statue off a pedestal at the end. All of them compete for the best time until Clay looks at the obstacle course for a few moments and then turns around and takes the statue, setting an unbreakable record. In Zen (sorta) tradition this is the correct result, and their master confirms this. |
| 256 | ** Later in the episode, Clay and Jack had a showdown to catch a bird. While Jack tried (and failed) to chase it with his heli-pack, Clay simply filled his hat with seeds from a nearby sunflower field and let the bird come to him. |
| 257 | ** Similarly Jack and Omi had a showdown in which they had to get to the end of an obstacle course with a glass of water "Without spilling a single drop". Jack had the Monkey Staff, which gave him perfect balance and a prehensile tail, but Omi was having trouble...until held the water in his mouth for the last leg of the course and ran. |
| 258 | ** Master Fung uses this concept to teach the monks, by challenging to steal a small idol from him. When they get too close to victory, Master Fung decides to smash the idol, preventing the monks from being physically able to win the challenge, Master Fung pointed out that, while they had a victory condition, he did not. Omi later uses the concept against Katnappe, preventing her from abusing the Golden Tiger Claws by sending them to center of the Earth. He can't use them any more, but neither can she. |
| 259 | ** Comes up yet again when Omi is challenged by a far more experienced monk to take a stone from his hand. After a series of elaborate acrobatic attempts to outspeed the older monk that all end in failure, Omi decides to... politely ask for the stone. And, the lesson learned, the other monk is happy to comply. |
| 260 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' |
| 261 | ** The series gets kickstarted by a loophole; While at the Hall of Justice in the first episode, the League receive two alerts: one about a nearby fire at Cadmus Laboratories, and one about the sorcerer Wotan attempting to block out the sun. Naturally, the League heads off to deal with the latter, and Batman tells Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad to stay put while they deal with it. Looking for a way to prove their worth, Robin accesses some files about Cadmus, and decides to check it out. When Aqualad reminds them they were told to stay put, Robin replies that they were told to stay put for the mission the League left for, meaning they're free to explore something completely unrelated. |
| 262 | ** In the episode "Quiet Conversation", [[ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} Victor Stone]] is dying thanks to the Father Box inside him. After being told that the only way to save Vic was to get [[ComicBook/NewGods Metron's]] [[CoolChair Mobius Chair]], [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Conner]] goes to recruit Metron. However, when Metron is brought to Vic's side, he's instead more interested in studying the Father Box killing Vic. [[ComicBook/BlackLightning Jefferson]] points out that they were told they needed the chair, not the guy sitting on it, so Conner tosses him out of it and Jeff holds him down with lightning, while the others prop Vic on the chair so it can heal him. |
| 263 | ** In the episode "Secrets", Harm (Billy Hayes) discovers that the Sword of Beowulf will work for OnlyThePureOfHeart and figures out that [[CardCarryingVillain a purely evil person also counts as "pure of heart"]]. And with that, he [[WouldHurtAChild kills his little sister Greta]] to destroy his only human connection and unlocks the Sword's powers. He gets utterly screwed when he runs into her ghost and feels a brief moment of regret, though. |
| 264 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'': When Zeta and Ro took refuge within a "No-Tech" village, the Agents couldn't go there without a court order. As Bennet went to the nearest town to get one, he told the other Agents to keep watching and not to set foot inside the village. Agent West then took a flying module to enter the village without setting foot inside it. To his misfortune, the villagers had catapults and rocks to defend themselves. |
| 265 | |
| 266 | ---- |
| 267 | ->[[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents Yay! Loopholes rock!]] |
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