Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context TakeAThirdOption / WesternAnimation

Go To

1%%%
2%%
3%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.
4%%
5%%%
6----
7* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
8** The episode "Another Way" is all about this trope, with every conversation ending with Finn shouting "My way!" When a tree stump (don't ask) tells him that he can only take the "smell bad forever" path or the "hair falls out forever" path, he kicks the signpost down and charges through the thorny bushes between the paths.
9** Zigzagged in "Jake vs. Me-mow". Me-mow, who [[OrificeInvasion hides inside]] and entraps Jake in a PoisonAndCureGambit, gives Jake an ultimatum: kill the Wildberry Princess, or die from poisoning. Jake attempts a third option, twice: [[FakingTheDead throwing a puppet out the window]], and having Finn sing a lullaby to secretly put the assassin to sleep, both failing when [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom one of the guards reveal the princess is alive, and Finn barging in and waking Me-mow back up]], respectively. When it appears that Jake is about to succumb to the poison, Me-mow, having disposed of the antidote, [[ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy reveals said poison is enough to kill 50 dogs]]. Cue Jake [[{{Sizeshifter}} supersizing his liver]] by ''51'' to digest the poison.
10** In "The Maze", Finn, Jake, and four Hot Dog knights enter the maze to find a wish-granter at the end of it. Along the way, two of the four hot dog knights die, and Jake pushes his stretching ability to the absolute limits with fatal results. At the end, Finn and two of the knights make it to the end. The first knight wishes for a box, the second wishes to "blow up" (he meant grow bigger, but the guardian was very much a LiteralGenie) and Finn's stuck between getting what they entered wanting to wish for (a two-headed psychic war elephant) or wishing the hot dog knights and Jake back to life. After some thinking, Finn wishes for the elephant and makes ''it'' wish for Jake and the knights to come back to life. Then they mount up on the elephant and fly out of the maze while the guardian screams at them for "cheating".
11* The climax of the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode, "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E05HighStakesSonic High Stakes Sonic]]" involves Robotnik challenging Sonic to [[TheBigRace a race against Grounder]] to retrieve the flag at the top of Mt. Robotnik and bring it back to the stadium. If Sonic wins, the sheep villagers, who have bet their freedom on Sonic's victory, will be set free, but at the expense of Tails, who has been captured. If Grounder wins, Robotnik will set Tails free at the sheep villagers' expense. When Grounder [[NiceJobFixingItVillain reveals the location of Tails' capture to Sonic]], Sonic is able to set Tails free and win the race, but Robotnik goes back on his word and has the sheep villagers work for him anyway.
12* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
13** In "Bully for Steve", with his ''own father'' acting as a bully to try and toughen him up, Steve is left with two options. Get tougher, or face more bullying from Stan. Instead, Steve finds Stan's old bully, Stelio Kontos, who promptly gives Stan [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown a complete ass beating]].
14** The later episode "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith" had Steve faced with a bully his own age. He tries to solve the problem by hiring Stelio again, but the younger bully fanboys out on the legendary Stelio and then they team up to give Steve an even worse beating (after recording a remix of Stelio's theme song).
15* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Arthur's Perfect Christmas", Arthur purchases a glass bird as a present for his mother to replace the one he broke last summer; while getting it down, he has an ImagineSpot where Jane opens the gift and loves it, making him the most popular kid in the family. After accidentally destroying it, he has another imagination where Jane and the others are upset at him and resent him. Just before he could break the bad news, Uncle Fred uses the tag from Arthur's gift on his tea set gift to replace the one he broke last Christmas, and says the present is from Arthur, for the sake of helping his nephew see his mother happy.
16* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
17** Played with in "The King of Omashu", where the extremely aged and hunchbacked King Bumi gives Aang a choice between two equally fearsome looking opponents. Feeling clever, Aang picks Bumi himself, who turns out be one of the most powerful Earthbenders in the world and promptly kicks Aang around the arena like a football. The [[SecretTestOfCharacter whole point]] of this and the other exercises were trying to think outside-the-box, and Bumi made the third option so obvious by saying "choose your opponent" and standing right in front of him that taking the third wasn't really that creative.
18--->'''King Bumi:''' Heh heh, ''wrong'' choice!
19** When Aang returns to Omashu while it is being controlled by the Fire Nation, he sought to rescue an imprisoned Bumi. Surprisingly, the old king can still earthbend, but has decided not to yet. Aang knows of the way of positive jing, fighting, and the way of negative jing, or retreating. Bumi reveals that there is a third "neutral" jing, which involves doing nothing and waiting for the right moment. This third jing would be key to Aang's mastering of earthbending. [[spoiler:This same principle pays off for Bumi when the eclipse arrives, rendering firebending useless and allowing him to single-handedly take back the city.]]
20** This trope crops up again in the series finale, where Aang is forced to decide whether to let Ozai live and carry out his genocide on the Earth Kingdom, or kill him outright. Aang manages to get around this by [[spoiler:learning how to Spiritbend by getting TouchedByVorlons and permanently disabling Ozai's ability fo firebend.]]
21** In the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', this is how the LoveTriangle of [[BettyAndVeronica Mako having to choose between Korra or Asami]] is ultimately resolved, with [[spoiler: Mako and Korra deciding to stay as JustFriends... while Korra and Asami walk off into the sunset together.]]
22* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', where D.A.V.E., a robot programmed as "Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind", forces Batman to choose between Alfred's life and his secret identity. Batman tries to free Alfred through different means, only for D.A.V.E. to slam him against the wall of the Batcave, shouting that he ''knew'' he would try to take a third, more favorable option.
23* ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'': In "The Legend of the Volcano Sisters", Luau Brothers Tyrone, Pablo and Austin have to get something for Volcano Sisters Uniqua and Tash, otherwise they will erupt the volcano. Tyrone suggests a big tiki mask, while Pablo suggests a gigantic pearl; both those fail to appease the sisters. Austin, who was trying to speak up throughout the episode, then suggests a pair of tropical flowers as an invitation to their luau, which the sisters gladly accept.
24* Done for humor in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Almost Got 'Im". Harley Quinn captures Catwoman and ties her to a conveyor belt heading for a massive meat grinder. Batman arrives, and catches Harley, who then taunts that he can either bring her in, or rescue Catwoman, but not both. Batman then... nonchalantly reaches over to the circuit breaker and shuts off the power to the grinder, to which Harley responds, "[[OhCrap heh heh]]... [[{{Touche}} Good call]]--Help!"
25* ''WesternAnimation/BeCoolScoobyDoo'': In "Protein Titan 2," Velma is torn between selling a computer code to a videogame company for $10,000,000 or giving it to a medical company. Daphne suggests non-exclusively selling the code to the videogame company for just $5,000,000 while also giving it to the medical company.
26* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'': Gwen and Kevin are trying to fight [[EgomaniacHunter Sunder the Retriever]] but are losing ground. The two of them start urging Julie to use Ben's severed hand ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]) as a weapon against Sunder, with Kevin telling her to dial the Omnitrix to Swampfire, and Gwen telling her to dial Humungousaur (what Gwen thinks Humungousaur's disembodied hand is capable of isn't stated). Julie dials Diamondhead instead, and gets Sunder backing away with the subsequent GemstoneAssault.
27* In the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "Journey to the Center of Nowhere", an army of sentient eggplants, riled up due to lack of water, abduct Muriel and prepare to cook her. They're then divided on which method to use; Babaganoush wants to fry her while Ratatouille wants to grill her, then another eggplant walks up and suggests that they bake her and they all settle on that.
28* ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'': In one episode, all of the characters are stuck in a debt loop where none of them can pay their debts because they're waiting on money from the previous debt holder to be able to do so. So Candy cuts out the cash entirely and has them pass a cheque around in a circle.
29* This is actually ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'''s biggest skill: being able to find some sort of compromise to a situation.
30** The episode "Doug's Big Brawl" has our title character accidentally hit a member of the AV Club and, when his dad finds out, gives him the sage advice "Show me a man who resorts to violence, and I'll show you a man who has run out of good ideas". Afterward, Doug finds himself harassed by the AV Club, egging him on for a rematch. When Doug has had enough, he confronts the kid... and finds out that he didn't want the fight - his clubmates pushed him into it! So, either Doug backs out and they both come out as chickens or they go at it and Doug, at most, becomes a bully. The solution: stage a fight in the AV Room, using a television feed and, at the right moment, kill the connection and let Skeeter make the sound effects!
31** "Doug Meets [=RoboBone=]" had the student body attempt to invite their favorite band, The Beets, to their school to have a concert, but Mr. Bone refuses, hating their music and proclaiming that his yodeling is much more sophisticated. It takes an ImagineSpot starring his superhero self Quail Man for him to come up with a Third Option - let Bone's yodeling group be the opening attraction before The Beets. Mr. Bone still doesn't like the band, but he's able to have some sort of spotlight.
32* Utilized (rather unfairly from some viewers' POV) in the short-lived ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' cartoon. The show would often go into commercial breaks with Dirk facing an A or B choice. In the original video game, one would mean safe passage the other, instant, hideous death. In the cartoon, ''both'' meant death. But, as the narration would smugly inform us, "Dirk saw there was a better way".
33* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': In season 2, [[Characters/TheDragonPrinceCallum Callum]] learns that humans can't do unassisted Primal Magic, tries and fails to forge his own connection to a Primal Source, and is faced with a stark choice: practice Dark Magic, or never be a mage again. Instead, he ends up successfully forging his own Primal connection, becoming the first human to do so, and rejecting the other two options
34* ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'': In "The Big Sleepover", the main characters are invited to a sleepover at Zak and Weezie's, but Cassie is nervous as this is her first time staying away from home and will miss her family. Throughout the episode, she has to decide whether to spend the sleepover and risk more homesickness, or go home and miss all the fun. After learning Emmy and Max have to go home soon, Cassie decides to try a "half-sleepover" instead, she enjoys all the fun with the other dragons, and once everyone goes to sleep, Cassie heads for home.
35* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E17LaunchpadsFirstCrash Launchpad's First Crash]]": While the men and women are willing to cooperate with one another to rescue Grunta, they spend some time arguing over whether the head woman or the head man should lead the expedition. Launchpad proposes a third option which everyone agrees with — he'll lead the rescue mission.
36* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/EllaTheElephant'', the island is hosting a soap box derby, and Frankie and Ella decide to work together on their kart. However, Frankie doesn't listen to any of Ella's design ideas, only using his own, causing her to quit the team. Frankie later reconciles with Ella by opting for a third option - a kart that is half Ella's and half Frankie's design.
37* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
38** In the episode "Wish Fixers", [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Head Pixie]] coerces Timmy into signing up for a program to get him to stop making bad wishes. A simple program: every time he makes a bad wish, Cosmo and Wanda get zapped by {{Shock Collar}}s that are turned up higher with each use, and the highest setting will destroy them. And Timmy isn't allowed to stop making wishes or wish away the collars, or else Cosmo and Wanda get replaced by pixies. After Timmy completely fails to curb his streak, HP gives Timmy a list of pre-approved wishes, but the only wish on it is to sign over control of Fairy World to the pixies, which will also result in Cosmo and Wanda being replaced with pixies, so Timmy is sunk either way. His solution: wish that Cosmo and Wanda were made of rubber, which is non-conductive. Since it was done for their safety, he technically broke his bad wishing streak, and because they can bounce around with destructive force in these forms, the wish was both responsible and irresponsible at the same time, nullifying the contract.
39** In the climax of "Five Days of F.L.A.R.G.", Mark reveals he has to destroy the planet he celebrated F.L.A.R.G. on as part of tradition; he can only destroy the host planet and not his home planet. Timmy tells Mark not to destroy Earth because it has become his home planet due to hiding from Princess Mandie, but Mark warns him if he doesn't destroy the planet, his appendix will destroy it in place for not completing F.L.A.R.G. So Timmy asks Mark to target another planet; he sends the bomb to Fairy World instead so Earth is safe.
40* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter and his father-in-law sell Meg some marijuana, creating an implicit choice between the money and the pot, so Mr. Pewterschmidt hits Meg over the head and declares "Now we have the pot ''and'' the money!"
41* {{Subverted|Trope}} in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks'': Bea is working at a pretzel kiosk and her manager makes her decide between firing Milo or Oscar. In the end, she tries to fire the manager, but obviously she can't and the manager fires all three of them.
42* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In "Bloo Tube", Mac and the imaginary friends try to cheer Bloo up when their trip to the Monsoon Lagoon water park gets cancelled due to [[RainRainGoAway a rainstorm]]. One of their attempts is with a board game mishmash called "For-Rat-Trap-O-Life", which features elements from board games called ''Forgive Me!'', ''[[TabletopGame/MouseTrap1963 Rat Trap]]'', ''[[TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}} Duopoly]]'', and ''[[TabletopGame/TheGameOfLife Family Life]]''. During their game, Eduardo lands on Moorpark Gardens, and has to give Mac either $500 or his first-born son. Eduardo instead gives Mac his last "Forgive Me!" card.
43* The first ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' [[MadeForTVMovie movie]] has the [[BigBadDuumvirate scammer aliens]] give the heroes and [[LaResistance their fleet of ships]] the option to either surrender unconditionally, or be destroyed. So [[spoiler:Bender shoots a DoomsdayDevice at them]].
44-->'''Nudar:''' You have two choices: unconditional surrender...\
45'''Leela:''' Never!\
46'''Nudar:''' Or total annihilation.\
47'''Leela:''' Also never!\
48'''Nudar:''' You have thirty seconds to decide.\
49'''Leela:''' [[RuleOfThree NEVER]]!
50* ''WesternAnimation/HarryAndHisBucketFullOfDinosaurs'': The episode "Who to Choose?" focuses on Harry being invited to Charlie's sleepover but can only take one of his six dinosaurs with him. In the end, he decides to have Charlie come over instead, so he can have the sleepover but keep all his dinosaurs.
51* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': Defied in [[Recap/InfinityTrainS1E4TheCrystalCar "The Crystal Car"]]. When Tulip's attempts to find an emotional song that will [[SongsInTheKeyOfLock build a staircase to the car door]] fail, she spends some time building a ladder. She manages to build the ladder, but discovers the door is locked, meaning she still has to find a song.
52* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsonsMeetTheFlintstones'' when Spacely tells George that he won't go "unrewarded" for saving the plant:
53-->'''Spacely:''' I could make you vice president, or give you stock in the company, but I've come up with a better idea.\
54'''George:''' Oh, what's that, sir?\
55'''Spacely:''' I'm not going to dock your pay, for the time you were gone from your job.\
56'''George:''' Oh. Thank you, sir.
57* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': while running a poll for Assistant Litter Commissioner that the options are Johnny and Carl, a guy answers "I like pie!" The papers publish: Carl 99%, Pie 1%, Johnny 0%. And the pie is later brought to a debate!
58* In the original ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' series, Aquaman must deal with being in a DeathTrap alongside his baby son. The first two options are saving himself at the cost of letting his child die and freeing said child only, but dying in the process. What's his choice? [[spoiler: Cutting off his own hand... which lets him get free ''and'' save both himself and his son. And become a HandicappedBadass.]]
59* In the "Double Date" episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', the Huntress has the option to either kill Mandragora in front of his own son for [[YouKilledMyFather murdering her father]], or to allow them to escape unscathed to a better life overseas. She chooses to capture and arrest Mandragora instead, a far less traumatizing event for the aforementioned son.
60* Attempted on ''WesternAnimation/KiddVideo''. Whiz wins an audience with the Pink Sphinx who can grant any wish, but only one per person. He's already decided that his wish will be to go back to their home dimension. Just before he's to make the wish, the Copy Cats capture his friends and put them in a death trap which they fail to escape. Glitter informs him of this and he has to decide between saving his friends or taking them home. He wishes that he and his friends were safe at home. However, the Sphinx sees right through the attempt and only saves his friends, leaving them trapped in the Flip Side.
61* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', some Buddhist monks are looking for the {{reincarnation}} of their lama. The test to determine the new lama involves candidates picking out one item owned by the previous lama from a collection of other random things. Bobby passes by accident, and he needs to take another test to confirm whether it was a coincidence or not. Upon learning that lamas are celibate, he doesn't want to proceed, but his Buddhist girlfriend, Connie, says that he has to or she can never be sure if their relationship is against her religion or not. When presented with another collection items and told to pick whatever he wants, he notices a mirror with Connie's reflection in it [[ExactWords and picks her]], which the head monk says is a valid option. [[spoiler:The episode ends with the monks privately noting that the mirror was, in fact, the correct item]].
62** In another episode, Peggy is arrested for kidnapping a Mexican girl after a misunderstanding stemming from [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels her poor Spanish skills]]. Of course Hank doesn't want his wife going to jail, but he's worried that if he just straight-up testifies that her Spanish is bad it'll hurt her ego. His solution? Convince Peggy to speak in her own defense; the judge witnesses her poor Spanish first-hand, realizes it was a misunderstanding, and declares her not guilty, while Peggy remains convinced that impassioned plea managed to sway him.
63* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': The famous DuckSeasonRabbitSeason argument from "WesternAnimation/RabbitFire" ends with Bugs and Daffy discovering that it is, in fact, ''Elmer'' Season. Cue OhCrap moment from Elmer.
64* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "In-Tents Debate", Lincoln is put in charge of deciding where the family will go on vacation. Half of his sisters want to go to Dairyland while the other half want to go to a beachfront resort, and each side tries to win over his favor and sabotage the other. In the end, Lincoln decides on them going to the campground that they were originally going to go to, with the added condition that he caters to them to make up for manipulating them into catering to him earlier.
65* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "The Qyah Ice Classic," Tooey has various dreams telling him the supposed date of when the ice will break - either April 30 or May 2. Eventually, Tooey decides to cast his prediction vote as May 5 at 5:00 PM, because 5 is his lucky number.
66* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
67** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E23PonyvilleConfidential Ponyville Confidential]]": The Cutie Mark Crusaders have become pariahs when everypony finds out that they were the ones damaging their reputations with lies in ''The Foal Free Press' under the pseudonym Gabby Gums. They feel guilty about it and want to stop writing slander, but editor [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] doesn't want them to, since said slander is bringing in lots of money for her, and threatens to publish an embarrassing picture of them in the paper if they dare to. Seeing that both choices will leave them social outcasts, they come up with a solution: issuing a public apology to everypony for the damage they caused. Thanks to this, not only are they forgiven, but Diamond Tiara is removed from her post as editor.
68** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E11KeepCalmAndFlutterOn Keep Calm and Flutter On]]": [[MadGod Discord]], taking advantage of Fluttershy's deep desire to be friends with him, gets her to promise to never use her Element on him, thereby preventing the others from subduing him again (since all six elements are needed for them to work). He then breaks out the chaos, and presents Fluttershy with a dilemma: she can either sit and watch as he devastates Ponyville... or she can break her promise. Instead she simply declares that ''she doesn't want to be his friend anymore''. Though he first mocks her for it, a second later he realizes he's feeling genuinely bad about it, and calls the whole thing off for her sake.
69** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E10RainbowFalls Rainbow Falls]]" has a case where the third option fails to solve the problem because it's just trying to dodge the whole issue. Rainbow Dash has to make a FriendOrIdolDecision over whether to join the Wonderbolts' relay team or remain with her own. She attempts to dodge it entirely by pretending to be injured so she can't fly for ''either'' team. It gets lampshaded by Twilight, who points out that Rainbow Dash isn't actually making the choice at all, and is rather choosing to avoid addressing the question of her priorities.
70** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 The Cutie Remark, Part 2]]" presents Twilight with a problem. Her attempts to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong have been futile due to [[InSpiteOfANail Starlight Glimmer stopping her at every turn]]. Thus Twilight can either stop trying to stop Starlight and let the future go to hell or she can keep going back in time and [[SealedEvilInADuel fighting Starlight forever]]. Instead, Twilight grabs Starlight and brings her to one of their possible futures, [[BadFuture a barren wasteland]]. It sets off Starlight's VillainousBreakdown, allowing Twilight to talk her down.
71** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E6SurfAndOrTurf Surf and/or Turf]]": After the Storm King's defeat, the seaponies of Seaquestria are free to leave the cavern where they'd been hiding, transform back into hippogriffs and reclaim their old home on Mount Aris. However, some have come to enjoy their new lives enough to prefer to stay seaponies. A young hippogriff named Terramar finds himself torn between the two species and worlds, [[ChildOfTwoWorlds as he loves both places and has family on each side]]. In a particularly depressed moment, he decides to squat by himself in a tree so he won't have to choose land or sea. In the end, [[spoiler:he takes a different third option when he realized that no one is actually trying to make him choose anything, and opts to keep transforming freely between the two forms and live in both places at once]].
72* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': [[spoiler:The Beast tells Wirt that he can choose between watching Greg turn into an edelwood tree and effectively die, or spend the rest of his life tromping around dark wood turning other edelwood trees into oil for the lantern, which will supposedly contain Greg's soul. Wirt instead opts to just grab an axe, cut Greg loose, pick him up and ''run like hell''.]]
73* In the ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' episode "I'm Still Super!", Rippen subjects Penn to a SadisticChoice where he can only save either Boone or Sashi from getting killed by an overly-complicated death trap. Professor Evil Professor, deciding that Rippen has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]], tells Penn that both of his friends will go free if he destroys Rippen instead[[spoiler:, and tries to mind control Penn into doing it. Penn breaks free of the control and destroys the button that would destroy Rippen, which may or may not have led to Rippen pressing the wrong button, [[InventionalWisdom giving them spa treatments]] [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext instead of killing them]]]].
74* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
75** "Three Girls and a Monster": When Blossom and Buttercup are [[FeudEpisode having an argument over]] [[BrainsVersusBrawn how best to beat the]] MonsterOfTheWeek, with Bubbles stuck in the middle. [[AttackPatternAlpha Well-calculated attacks]] don't seem to touch it, and [[AttackAttackAttack trying to beat the crap out of it]] doesn't work - it doesn't even seem to leave a scratch. So, what does Bubbles finally do to beat it? [[spoiler:Politely ask it to leave. And it WORKS.]]
76** "Simian Says": Mojo Jojo kidnaps the narrator and narrates the girls doing his bidding. When they found him out and asked where he wanted to be punched, stomach or head, he replied "How about an option of the third type?" He didn't get to take it.
77** "Not so Awesome Blossom": Blossom has to decide between attacking Mojo and risk having the Professor fall to his death or [[KneelBeforeZod accept him as her ruler]]. She ends up taking a third option in an unexpected way: she stomps on her end of the walkway, triggering a panel that stretches to below Mojo's seat, sending him flying and the Professor falling, and in turn she orders each girl to save either one just in time.
78* Over the course of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'''s run, it's a major plot thread whether Mordecai will settle down with either Margaret or CJ. This is ultimately resolved in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, where after leaving the park to become a professional artist, he meets a bat woman and they're shown having three children together.
79* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode, "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E6WimpOnTheBarbyYarnBenders Yarn Benders]]", Rocko tells Filburt the story of ''Hansel and Debbie'' ([[FracturedFairyTale or at least tries to]]) to help him get over a cold. At one point in the story, he changes the Witch's GingerbreadHouse to a house made of healthy snacks, but Heffer wants the house to be made of pizza. Rocko and Heffer argue with each other until Filburt interrupts and tells them that they're both wrong; the house is made of fish sticks. Rocko and Heffer settle on this option.
80* In the finale of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', Adora and [[spoiler:Catra]] face a dilemma; the former must [[HeroicRROD sacrifice herself]] to connect the Failsafe to the Heart of Etheria, but if she doesn't, everyone will suffer a FateWorseThanDeath. So during the connection, [[spoiler:Catra]] hugs her tightly, letting the magic conduct through ''her'' body as well as Adora's. [[spoiler:Just because the Failsafe can only be borne by one person doesn't mean its activation has to be.]]
81* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
82** In the "Treehouse of Horror VII" segment "Citizen Kang", when Homer shows Kang and Kodos are impersonating the 1996 presidential candidates, they note the revelation makes no difference.
83--->'''Kodos''': It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.\
84'''Man 1''': He's right, this is a two-party system.\
85'''Man 2''': Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.\
86'''Kang''': Go ahead; ''throw your vote away!''
87** The same episode has Kodos and Kang trying to tell the crowd what they want to hear. "Abortions for everyone!" gets booed, "No abortions for anyone" also gets booed. They settle on abortions for some and miniature American flags for others.
88** In another episode, Bart and Lisa stand on opposite sides of the living room and ask Maggie to walk to the one she loves best. Maggie's choice? The television.
89** In one episode, the King Solomon example from the Religion section is parodied when Homer dreams that he is King Solomon and has to solve the conundrum of two men claiming ownership of the same pie. His solution:
90--->'''Homer/Solomon''': The pie shall be split in two, and both men shall receive... death. I'll eat the pie.
91** Another episode had Bart doing a school report about his father, and asking questions like what kind of underwear he prefers:
92--->'''Bart:''' Hey Homer! Do you wear boxers or briefs?
93--->'''Homer:''' (Checks) [[GoingCommando Nope!]]
94* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'':
95** In "The Amulet and the Anthem", Sofia becomes snobbish and vain to her friends Ruby and Jade over being chosen to be the anthem singer at the Enchancia harvest festival, resulting in the Amulet of Avalor cursing her to randomly croak like a frog. Cedric, bearing his goal to TakeOverTheCity, claims he can fix the curse, but only if Sofia gives him the amulet; Sofia refuses, because [[IGaveMyWord she promised never to take it off and sticks to just that]]. When all seems lost, a visit from [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Princess Belle]] has her realize actions speak louder than words, allowing her to take a last-minute third option and lets Ruby and Jade be the anthem singers in her place, which in turn breaks the curse.
96** In the climax of "The Curse of Princess Ivy" when Amber and Sofia confront Ivy in the throne room, Ivy gives Amber the choice either to give her the amulet, or Sofia will get the next memory-erasing dragonfly. Amber refuses and instead [[TakingTheBullet lets herself get hit with the dragonfly meant for Sofia,]] [[ActOfTrueLove and because of this daring risk out of love for her stepsister]], it breaks the curse and sends Ivy home.
97* In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground'' episode "Sonia's Choice", Sonic and Manic are captured by Robotnik, who gives Sonia the SadisticChoice of saving one or the other. Though initially driven to tears by the dilemma, Sonia quickly resolves to save both, and organises an operation with the local resistance to rescue them both at the same time. Nearly subverted, as the plan would have failed were it nor for [[spoiler:the [[DeusExMachina timely intervention]] of Queen Aleena]].
98* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Towelie was faced with either preventing the boys and their new game system from falling into a death trap, or getting high from a joint the evil towel was taunting him with. Towelie's response? "I choose.... BOTH!"
99* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' episode "Zorak", Zorak kidnaps Space Ghost's teen sidekicks and forces him to fight his giant hornets without his power bands, or his sidekicks will die. After fighting the wasps for a few minutes, Space Ghost puts his power bands back on and defeats the hornets, saving his sidekicks shortly after. The third option, if you missed it, was "remember that all your enemies are idiots," or "both" for short.
100* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
101** In "Walking Small" when [=SpongeBob=] realizes Plankton tricked him into becoming mean so he can get everyone to leave Goo Lagoon so he can turn it into a new site for his new restaurant, Plankton tells him NiceGuysFinishLast and aggressive people get whatever they want. Suddenly, [=SpongeBob=] has an epiphany and asks, "What about aggressively ''nice'' people?", and proceeds to undo all the damage he caused.
102** In "Squirrel Jokes", [=SpongeBob=] becomes a popular comedian when he begins telling jokes making fun of squirrels, at Sandy's expense, which causes people to start treating Sandy like an idiot. After he tries to stop, but relents and goes back to doing them out of peer pressure, Sandy invites [=SpongeBob=] to her treedome and pretends to be the simpleton that his jokes paint her as, showing that words can hurt. The next time [=SpongeBob=] goes on stage, he opens with one squirrel joke, but then begins insulting other species, starting with himself, and gets the same adulation that he got before.
103** In "The Krabby Kronicle", [=SpongeBob=] is forced to write humiliating lies about his friends in Mr. Krabs' new newspaper enterprise. Faced with the choice of either continuing to write the stories and destroying the lives of his friends, or refusing and getting fired from his beloved fry cook job, he instead chooses to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard hoist Krabs by his own petard]] and publish an article in the paper about how Mr. Krabs is overworking him and forcing him to write the bogus news stories. The paper's readers are so outraged that they storm the Krusty Krab and take all their money back.
104** In "For Here or to Go", Plankton ends up winning a bun seed contest at the Krusty Krab and demands the free Krabby Patty he asked for, to the point he calls up the Bogus Business Bureau who give Mr. Krabs a SadisticChoice to either give Plankton the patty and risk losing business to him, or keep the patty, but the bureau will shut down the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs decides to take an unsurprising third option and forces Plankton to actually eat the free patty he won, which also results in disgusting patties when mixed with his stomach contents.
105** In "[=SpongeBob=] You're Fired", Mr. Krabs faces losing a whole nickel by paying his workers, so he has to decide: Either forego the extra nickel and pay them as normal, or save spending it by firing one of them. He chooses the latter and fires [=SpongeBob=]; however, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero doing so causes the Krusty Krab to fall into instant disarray]] [[RemovingTheCrucialTeammate without the only one who knows the Krabby Patty formula]], so he rehires him in the end. He then decides to go for a third option and installs a pay toilet to make up for the extra nickel.
106* As part of a test in the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' episode "Overlords", Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are captured, and Anakin is told he can only save one of them from being killed. [[spoiler:He uses the fact that the realm they're in, Mortis, is an extremely powerful Force conduit, and taps into it free them both at the same time.]]
107* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
108** [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E15KeystoneMotel "Keystone Motel"]]: [[RedOniBlueOni Ruby and Sapphire]] argue over how to deal with Pearl: they can't just ''forgive'' Pearl's actions, because they hurt [[spoiler:Garnet]] so deeply. But equally, they can't ignore the problem (because doing so hurts ''[[TrueCompanions everyone else]]''). Eventually they reach a compromise (signified by [[spoiler:the two fusing back into Garnet]]): they'll stop giving Pearl the silent treatment, but they won't accept her apology yet.
109** [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E28MessageReceived "Message Received"]]: Peridot is trying to help the Crystal Gems destroy the Cluster that threatens to destroy the Earth, but she is torn between her friendship with Steven and her loyalty to Yellow Diamond, who created the Cluster. So she [[spoiler: contacts Yellow Diamond directly and tries to give her logical reasons why the Earth should not be destroyed. It fails, and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu she insults Yellow Diamond]] in the process, so she ends up having no choice but to help the Crystal Gems.]]
110** "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E22MadeOfHonor Made of Honor]]": Steven [[spoiler:releases Bismuth from her bubble]], and when she hastily corrects herself upon greeting him, [[spoiler:not knowing about [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond being one and the same]]]], he admits that there's now a third option.
111--->[[spoiler:'''Bismuth:''']] [[spoiler:Rose– I mean... Steven.]]\
112'''Steven:''' Oh, there's a third option now...
113* In one ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' episode, Starfire's pet worm is [[LetHimChoose torn in a decision]] between his father and Starfire, who raised him with love. Rather than joining either, he takes a third option, and explodes. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in that this made him shrink down to baby size, where he happily stays with Starfire.]]
114** In the first season finale, Robin has to choose between serving as Slade's apprentice or letting a bunch of Slade's micro-probes kill his friends. His choice? [[spoiler:Infect ''himself'' with the probes so that he and his friends share the same fate; Slade's so obsessed with winning that he'd rather let the Titans live than "lose" by allowing his apprentice to die.]]
115* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' episode "The Viewers Decide", Bumblebee decides to leave the Titans to strike out on her own. The members of Titans West fight with Bumblebee's former teammates from Titans East over who gets her on their team, and after a telethon that was clearly rigged in West's favor, they notice that she's already gone. She's shown as a solo superhero, followed by a card saying she's not coming back.
116* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'':
117** A Season 3 arc focused on the arrival of Scottish twins Donald and Douglas when only one engine was expected; Sir Topham Hatt spent a lot of time deciding who to send home. Percy pleads Sir Topham to choose neither, because sending them away will turn them into scrap, thus he decides to keep both twins.
118** "The Thomas Way" deals with Thomas and Duck trying to transport Harold to the Search & Rescue Center after his rotor is damaged. Because this is Harold's first time on the tracks, Thomas wants to show him the sights, but Duck refuses, as according to him, there are two ways of doing things: the Great Western Way or the wrong way. After an incident at a tunnel, Thomas decides to create a third way called the Thomas way, which is not as direct like the other ways, but avoids tunnels.
119* In the original ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'', there was something like this in the second part of "The Anointment of Lion-O". Outracing Cheetarah the standard way was impossible, and he knew it, but he was allowed to take a shortcut, and seeing as she couldn't run as ''long'' as he could, doing so gave him a better chance. The downside? It was far more dangerous. Still, he took that option and won.
120** It's subverted in another part of that storyline where Lion-O faces off against Wily-Katt and Wily-Kitt in a challenge of wits. At one point, Lion-O finds three tunnel entrances before him. Katt playfully urges him to take the Left tunnel while Kitt equally urges him to take the Right one. Lion-O defiantly takes the center tunnel instead, which is ''precisely'' the one they wanted him to take for their own purposes.
121* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' there comes an episode where [[TheHero Lion-O]] has to get a copy of [[TheBigGuy Panthro]] out of a wrestling ring. After many failed attempts at doing so, [[RememberedICouldFly he remembers he is the king]] and Panthro is his [[FourStarBadass General.]] He then orders him to leave the ring.
122* In the short "Buttering Up the Buttfields" from the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS1E55ViewerMailDay Viewer Mail Day]]", Plucky has a job at a fancy restaurant where he tries to please the titular Buttfields, a persnickety and heavyset rich couple with big butts. At first, the Buttfields want to have Canard A [=La'Orange=] for their dinner, which Plucky finds out is roast duck in orange sauce. He later convinces them to have roast rabbit instead when he sees Buster making a carrot delivery. When Buster finds out about the Buttfields, he and Plucky join forces and serve them the finest French delicacy; [[SmellySkunk Skunkette A La Fifi]], which is how they drive the Buttfields away.
123* {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising.'' A terrorist ties Tron to one bomb, sets the other up at Able's garage, and tells Beck there's only time to pick one. [[spoiler: Beck's attempt at a third option is to send [[SecretKeeper Able]] to defuse the one at the garage. Not only does this get Able killed, but now Beck's friends have turned against the uprising and sided with Beck's enemies because they blame him for Able's death.]]
124* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', Bishop goes back in time to stop Apocalypse from causing a global plague. But in Cable's time (further into the future), Cable realizes that if Bishop saves the present, it would doom his future. The plague would allow humanity to develop antibodies that would help the people in Cable's time survive further plagues. So, if Cable wants to save his people, he has to help Apocalypse win. His third option? Expose ''Wolverine'' to the virus so his HealingFactor would create antibodies to counter the virus, thus giving it a cure. This allows Cable to save the future ''and'' the present.
125* ''WesternAnimation/WonderPets'': In "How It All Began", Tuck and Ming Ming have a disagreement over whether their vehicle should be a boat or something that flies. Linny stops them and reveals the vehicle is a boat that can fly, which in turn leads to the creation of the Flyboat.
126* ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfWinx'': In "Jim's Revenge", the Winx receive an urgent call from the World of Dreams during their New York concert while the venue is simultaneously falling apart; either the Winx have to respond to the call and leave their fans to suffer, or cater to them and put their mission off for a bit. Bloom ends up taking a surprising third option, where she distracts the crowd and creates duplicates of the Winx to keep them busy while they go to the World of Dreams.
127

Top