Line #12 MacGuffin/WesternAnimation


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9	* Lampshaded at the end of "The Menu" in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball''. Richard hears about a secret item on the Joyful Burger Menu. After he, Gumball and Darwin go through massive lengths to discover it's existence, Larry tells tasks them with eating something from every Joyful Burger location in an hour. They do so and when they return they are rewarded with the secret item; The [[PunnyName M'Guffin]].
10	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': The Hextech Gem, a stabilized version of the highly explosive hextech crystals, takes on this role throughout the second and third arcs. Jinx steals it from the Progress Day presentation, causing the Council to cut of Zaun and inflaming tensions. The theft also motivates Caytlin to go into Zaun, bringing Vi as her guide. In the final arc, [[spoiler:Ekko, Vi and Caytlin try to bring it to Piltover to stop a potential war, but Jinx steals it back. It is finally used for its intended purpose as a power source in the final episode... to power Jinx' rocket that destroys the city council.]]
11	* The 13 ingredients needed to make the antidote in ''WesternAnimation/ArgaiTheProphecy''.
12	* The Golden Disk in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' started as a [=MacGuffin=]... but in the second season, it evolved out of that status, with Megatron demonstrating exactly what it was and why it was so dangerous in his hands.
13	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', "Operation R.E.P.O.R.T." refers to its [=MacGuffin=] as The Goods until practically the end of the story, where it turns out to just be a pizza they were supposed to get. But at least they actually reveal it... the mysterious ice cream flavor that Numbuh 5 and the DCFDTL were fighting over in "Operation F.L.A.V.O.R." gets "name-cancelled" the only time it's going to be mentioned, when the others have phoned Numbuh 5.
14	** There is one later episode where Numbuh 0 is recommissioned where he suggests it might be [[spoiler: blurpleberry.]] Interestingly enough, in terms of RealLife, there ''is'' an ice cream flavor that has surpassed strawberry in popularity, which is [[spoiler: butter pecan.]] Also, when ice cream was introduced into North America, there ''was'' a fourth flavor marketed, but it fell out of use. It was [[spoiler:butterscotch]], which does have the same color as the Fourth Flavor shown in the episode, but this could just be a coincidence.
15	* The ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "Courage In The Big Stinkin' City" features Courage being forced to get an evil package that not even he knows at first what it is. It turns out to be [[spoiler:a squeegee]], but it's been damaged, making it even less relevant what it was.
16	* The Anti-Life Equation in the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse. Several villains, most notably Darkseid, want it, and the chase for it is a recurring plot point. The equation itself, on the other hand, is not: What it does remains undefined and the two who finally get their hands on it promptly vanish from this reality. (The comic book version, on the other hand, does define the Equation, and some of those seeking it have been able to use it. [[spoiler:It's an empirical scientific formula which demonstrates the meaninglessness and futility of existence, which allows one to control the will of others entirely. Its ominous name comes from the idea that "if someone possesses absolute control over you - you're not really alive." Scott "Mr. Miracle" Free has known the Equation all along but chooses not to use it.]])
17	** Darkseid isn't the most notable villain to want it; he's the ''only'' one who wants it, and the fact that in the finale another villain [[spoiler: ComicBook/LexLuthor]] gets a hold of it is rather incidental [[spoiler: Lex only has it because he was looking for something, anything, to defeat Darkseid, and that's just what he was given.]] Darkseid doesn't actually spend much time searching for the Equation either and usually is out to conquer Earth and screw with Superman. The closest he gets to searching for it is one story where he [[spoiler: reprogrammes Brainiac]] and refers to him as "his solution to the Anti-Life Equation", meaning rather than look for the thing he'd decided to actually use a substitute.
18	* The Crystal Coconut in ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'' is almost always in danger of being stolen by the Kremlings.
19	* Every other Uncle Scrooge Comic Story, and to a lesser extent, ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', is essentially a search for a historical [=MacGuffin=]. It matters not whether the already-ultra-rich [=McDuck=] searches for the Golden Fleece, Solomon's Mines, the remnants of the Trojan Horse, the Crown of the Crusader Kings, the Candy-Striped Ruby etc. so much as it's something valuable for both him and Glomgold to get involved.
20	** Creator/DonRosa's life stories of Scrooge [=McDuck=] make this even more explicit by detailing his adventures around in search of wealth, and the sharp downturn after he could just lie back and manage it. The treasures he's now seeking are less important than the ability to zoom halfway across the planet to do it.
21	* Every episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' starts off with a different [=MacGuffin=]. And it is occasionally referred to again at the end for a BrickJoke, and possibly some [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's guns]], too.
22	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangbone}}'' (and the original ''Literature/FangboneThirdGradeBarbarian'' books) has the big toe of the show's BigBad [[EvilSorcerer Venomous Drool]], which Fangbone and his friend Bill have the duty of protecting so that Drool cannot get it back and regain his full power.
23	* [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics Jumbonium]] in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Lesser of Two Evils".
24	* Numerous episodes of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' mentioned the Klopman Diamond.
25	-->'''Garfield''': A rare and valuable gem as well as a pointless RunningGag on a Saturday morning cartoon show.
26	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'', Shipwreck finds himself conscripted into entertaining a group of children while the other Joes guard a machine actually called "The [=MacGuffin=] Device". Neither the Joes nor Cobra knows what the thing does, they just don't want the other side to have it.
27	** It turns out [[spoiler:it's a RealityWarper that makes thoughts real; at the end of the show Shipwreck activates it, and it turns the characters from his FracturedFairyTale into real-life SuperDeformed characters that help fight off Cobra]].
28	* The Zodiac from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. Although alluded to throughout the series several times, it's ultimately pointless. WordOfGod says it was never meant to be important.
29	* The Cronus Stone, the stone that keeps the Titans imprisoned under the earth, in ''WesternAnimation/HerculesAndXenaTheAnimatedMovieTheBattleForMountOlympus''.
30	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' featured Arnold losing Grandpa's pocket watch down the sewer. He finds it and has it take it from an insane man called the Sewer King. He finally succeeds, but then it falls down the drain where the Sewer King finds it. Grandpa then reveals he has tons of other watches just like it, meaning that it made no difference at all what it was.
31	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': The Ishibo. A staff made out of the Last Ironwood Tree's arm, which the kids, as well as [[spoiler:the other team]], try to get in order to go home. When the item is obtained, then the quest become finding a way back to the Last Ironwood Tree to return it.
32	* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Door To Door" features a Skool candy drive where the kid that sells the most candy gets the Mystery Prize. Zim becomes obsessed with it, thinking that it could alter time and space. He wins, but finds out [[spoiler: there was no Mystery Prize and it was just a gimmick to motivate kids to sell candy. He does get a free can of tuna, though.]]
33	* At least two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' revolve around a pure [=MacGuffin=]: in "Sick Day" it's "Ray X" which is repeatedly stolen and recovered when the players are incapacitated by a cold they pass to each other (and "Ray X" is revealed to be a cure for the common cold, after it has been destroyed). "Adventures In Rufus-Sitting" sees the NonHumanSidekick Rufus swallow a microchip - pursed by three villains and protected by Kim.
34	** Another is the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer. Dr. Drakken says outright that he only wants it because his rival Professor Dementor has it. No-one but Dementor and its inventors even know what it does until near the end.
35	* The plot of the first ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'', to an extent, revolves around the Dragon Scroll -- who gets it, who deserves it, how and when it will be used. Tai Lung [[StartOfDarkness went to the Dark Side]] because he was not granted it, then spends twenty years in prison thinking of nothing else, escaping only when he learns it will be given to someone else. The Furious Five, meanwhile, all want it so they can stop the BigBad and prove their worth to their master, while everyone from Shifu on down to Po believes the panda needs it and its ultimate power to win. The final battle is an endless series of hot potato tosses back and forth around the village square, with Tai Lung and Po constantly in pursuit of each other to get the scroll back.
36	** The kicker? [[spoiler:''The scroll is blank, without any special secret written on it'']]. The double kicker? [[spoiler:What seems a worthless artifact is actually a reflective parchment geared to make Po gain the confidence to believe in the BeYourself lesson. Tai Lung doesn't get it at all, and thinks it really is a worthless [=MacGuffin=] which he has wasted his whole life pursuing. The rage this discovery produces contributes strongly to Po's victory]].
37	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In the WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck short "WesternAnimation/BostonQuackie", Daffy is assigned to escort a briefcase to the West Slobovian consultate, and has to get it back from an enemy agent known as "The Man in the Green Hat". The contents of the briefcase turn out to be [[spoiler: a jar of [[InstantPeopleJustAddWater ACME "Instant Girl"]], containing the ambassador's date for the embassy ball.]]
38	* The Queen's Jewel and Cloak of Dreams in ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie''.
39	* The Ladybug Miraculous in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', which Hawk Moth attempts to steal from Ladybug to use for his own purposes that he akumizes unsuspecting citizens to do his bidding.
40	* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "[[Recap/MollyOfDenaliS1E2BerryItchyDayHerringEggsOrBust Herring Eggs or Bust]]," Molly's entire motivation for going to Sitka is to get herring eggs.
41	* Pretty much the entire plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheMummyTheAnimatedSeries''.
42	* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', Kowalski made a time machine, and the chemical that he needs to start it (and gets Private and Skipper into a fight over it) is called, what else, [[LampshadeHanging MacGuffium 2-39]].
43	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''
44	** The episode 'Vanessesary Roughness" involves [[MacGuffinMelee a four-way struggle]] between Perry the Platypus, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz and Ferb, Baljeet and Buford, and Candace to get a tube of "pizzazium infinionite".
45	** Lampshaded later in the aptly-titled episode "Finding Mary [=McGuffin=]", in which Phineas and Ferb track down Candace's lost Mary [=McGuffin=] doll. A line near the end makes it clear it's not a coincidence to boot, when a fight between Vanessa and Candace over the titular doll leads Ferb to comment, "This is ''exactly'' why they took that doll off the market."
46	* In one episode of The Hub's ''[[WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010 Pound Puppies]]'', the puppy of the week is [[LampshadeHanging actually named]] [=MacGuffin=], since the plot focuses less on getting him to his "perfect person" and more on Squirt indulging in a PrinceAndPauper plot.
47	* Acknowledged in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' when Sabrina and Chloe find themselves trapped inside a video game. The only way to escape is to retrieve an artifact from a citadel at the other end of the country. What's this item called? The Golden [=MacGuffin=].
48	* An episode of the ''WesternAnimation/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' cartoon revolved around the heroes chasing an [=FDA=] inspector, trying to feed him a sample of their favorite snack food so that he'll realize how delicious they are and lift the ban he's placed on them. The snack food? "[[LampshadeHanging Glazed [=MacGuffins=]]]".
49	* Several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretShow'' revolve around the U.Z.Z. agents trying to prevent the theft of "The Secret Thing," which is so secret that nobody knows what it is or what it does, but everyone wants it just the same.
50	* ''WesternAnimation/ShaolinWuzang'': The Books of Power. Many an episode concerns Heihu trying to find the Second Book of Power, and there are a couple episodes with attempted retrievals of the stolen First Book of Power. Despite their importance, they are never used for anything.
51	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In an ''Series/AmericanIdol'' parody episode, the prize winner gets to star in their own "Itchy and Scratchy" episode. After that, it is never brought up again in the episode.
52	* ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' has the Book of Peace. A Magical Book that is apparently essential to keeping the peace. What, specifically, the magic powers of the book actually do and how they are important to preserving peace and balance aren't ever elaborated upon and are completely irrelevant to the plot. Even the BigBad, Eris: Goddess of Discord and Strife, only steals the book to [[spoiler:cause a succession crisis in Syracuse because of the chaos that would ensue]], rather than anything that has to do with the book itself.
53	* ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends:'' Subverted both unnervingly and hilariously in the ''Enchanted Forest'' episode. The story has Mip's gift for the princess, mysterious and contained in a wooden box, as the mandatory Macguffin for the mandatory fantasy quest that Mip ropes Charlie into (much to Pim's resentment, as he had wished to embark into such a quest himself since he was a kid). Much struggling over it later, and after Mip accidentally dies with his last words being to deliver the box to the Princess, they finally do so... and [[spoiler: find out in mourning his death to her that Mip was actually her stalker. And the gift? ''A completely realistic IED that nearly kills them all'']].
54	* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'':
55	** The Amulet of Avalor, a powerful artifact which is currently under the ownership of Sofia. Not only is it perused by numerous villains alike (Cedric in particular) to use for their own evil purposes, [[ClingyMacGuffin its bearer must never, ever take it off]]; [[IGaveMyWord Sofia keeps that promise no matter what.]]
56	** Oona's comb, which is perused similar to the Amulet's purpose in "The Floating Palace".
57	** The Hocus Crocus from "Enchanted Science Fair". There's only one of it growing, and Sofia and her friends all need it for each of their projects, but since there's only one they all fight over it until they lose it off a cliff.
58	** The Emerald Key which unlocks the kingdom of Hakalo in "The Emerald Key". The evil sorceress Mamanu seeks to use it as her own to take over the kingdom herself.
59	** The Wicked Nine from the final season, which are nine different artifacts used by famous Disney Villains; Prisma seeks to find them and use their power to awaken the spirit of the evil sorceress Vor. Meanwhile, Sofia, who is training on the Mystic Isles to become Protector of her home world, is on the case with the other Protectors to retrieve as much of the artifacts as possible and bring them back to the Isles for safe keeping so nobody uses them.
60	* In ''WesternAnimation/SpacePOP'', the Ring of Grock, worn by the Pentangle's first emperor, has the power to save or destroy the galaxy if all five of its gems are in placement. The missing fifth jewel is also one of these, as the last fourth of the story is spent looking for it or having it change hands.
61	* The ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' episode "Road To Tazmania" is in the same vein, with secret agents chasing two Tasmanian Devils with a certain orange juice box, right down to ending on the opening of the container without revealing what's in it.
62	** Another episode did something similar, but the end actually did show what it was, [[spoiler: "The End" credit.]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': The ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces''-inspired episode "Revved Up" involves a high-security suitcase containing something precious to Robin being stolen by Ding-Dong Daddy. Its opening at the end is a textbook use of TheUnreveal.
64	* Lampshaded in the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' episode "Ultimate Deadpool", where the agent Deadpool has to retrieve a list of SHIELD agents from is named "Agent [=McGuffin=]." [[spoiler:It's also the first clue that Deadpool isn't being entirely on-the-level about what's going on.]]
65	* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa'', which had an ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' parody in which the title character and a young lady embark on an adventure to find a [=MacGuffin=], which turns out to be [[spoiler:the most delicious burger at a fast-food restaurant]].
66	* The Orb in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is a mysterious device, apparently created over thousands of years by incremental work from countless great scientists and philosophers. What it even does upon activation is never stated, to the point that it's stated to be an outright mystery whether it's a weapon or an energy source or something else entirely. The need to protect it from outside influence is highly important in both its appearances, with it being the reason Brock Samson was assigned to work with Rusty (the inheritor of the Orb, which was hidden long ago). [[spoiler:In its second appearance, it's revealed that the Orb [[AccidentallyBrokeTheMacGuffin was broken over a century ago by Eugen Sandow]], meaning everything surrounding it in the series was AllForNothing.]]
67	* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': In "The It", Lord Hater and Commander Peepers plot against a rival villain named General [=MacGuffin=].
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Context MacGuffin / WesternAnimation