Adventure Time: The ending of "Tree Trunks" consists of Tree Trunks, a kindly, lovable old elephant who makes apple pies, suddenly exploding right out of nowhere at the end of the episode after taking a bite from the Crystal Gem Apple. Originally the episode was going to end with just that, but the executives said it was too dark. They were forced to put in a shot of Tree Trunks after the credits, skipping around in an alternate dimension to confirm to the audience that she was okay and that she would come back. Which she did, becoming a regular supporting character. Whether or not the changed ending increases the insanity of the moment, however, depends on the viewer.
American Dad!: One would argue that a better title whould be Ass Pull: The Series since, especially in the later seasons, the show is really bad at having a twist occur for no real reason other than to have one, usually contracting/derailing everything the episode had going for it beforehand:
"Next of Pin": In fear of losing Steve, who is about to win a final bowling match, which will make him a pro bowler and have him move away from his family, Stan STABS him in the ankle, not only costing him the match but also severely injuring him. Not helping is the fact that when Steve finds out he was the one to stab him and questions why, Stan's only response is "I don't know!"
"Death by Dinner Party": At the end of the episode, it's revealed that all the murders that happened throughout were all staged by the rest of the cast as a way to get back at Roger for acting like a childish jerk. The twist in question, though, is contradicted by several scenes earlier in the episode where the other characters are shown to be scared over the thought that they could be the next ones to die, when they have no reason to act this way since Roger isn't present for any of them.
Done in one episode where the family's new dog plays in the street and avoids being hit by a car, only for a hot air balloon piloted by pirate cats to land on top of the dog from nowhere. The accident sets up the plot.
Another episode has Stan somehow escape (off-screen) from a gang of violent drug dealers with the help of his pet mouse.
There is a base-breaking example in the series finale, where Aang, after struggling for some time over whether or not he should kill Firelord Ozai, is suddenly able to Take a Third Option and strip his bending from him using a previously unknown and largely unforeshadowed technique. Word of God from a post-series artbook states that they'd planned on this story development well before the show was even picked up by a kids network. There are some hints minor that Aang could find an option like this, but it is still a very sudden and last minute development. Even stranger, the episodes immediately before the finale were the first time it was even suggested that Aang had any particular compunction against killing someone (although it's certainly in line with his character and upbringing). He had showed no more hesitation than anyone else until then, and had by far the biggest bodycount, even ignoring various Avatar-state events like the Season 1 finale.
Then there is the fact that Aang was only able to enter the Avatar state because he took a hit from a perfectly-shaped rock to the back as opposed to finding a way to open his chakras on his own. Unlike the above, this is more or less unanimously agreed to be an Ass Pull.
Some of the places Azula and her friends just happen to end up in defy logic. One day she's chasing the Avatar miles across the Earth Kingdom, then the next she's trying to attack Ba Sing Se, then she's...somewhere south of the city fighting the Kyoshi Warriors. One of the worst examples comes in The Boiling Rock where she ends up at the same Fire Nation prison as our heroes for no other reason than a random inspection/creating a conflict in the final act.
In the Book 1 finale, Aang appears before Korra and teaches her energybending, allowing her to fix all the damage that had been done by the Equalists. While the existence of the technique is established in the first season, Aang appearing and allowing to use it still comes out of nowhere.
In the Book 2 finale, during Korra's battle with a merged Unalaq and Vaatu (Dark Avatar), Jinora enters the battle with a glowing orb of light that inexplicably illuminates a blinding light onto Republic City and reveals Raava's light energy inside the Dark Avatar. Korra is able to extract the light from him and revive Raava. While it was shown that she went back to help Korra after Tenzin saved her in the Spirit World, how she got to Korra or what she even did, much less how she did it, isn't explained. Or even acknowledged. It was later lampshaded and parodied in Book 4's Recap Episode.
The ending of BIONICLE: The Journey to One is an example only due to the writer having to cap off the story after the series got canned mid-production. Gali finds a prophecy that tells her how they will defeat Makuta, so she and the other Toa simply follow the instructions. Despite knowing said prophecy, Makuta doesn't try to stop her, allowing Gali to convince her partners to sacrifice themselves to overpower him, revealing that the Toa have been the source of the elements all along — even though previously, it was heavily implied that they needed special masks to access elemental powers, and that's not even getting into whatever the books have said about how the elements worked.
On The Cleveland Show, Terry being in an extended homosexual relationship. While the possibility of Terry being gay actually WAS foreshadowed more than once, Terry being in a committed relationship at all counts as an ass pull because his relationship was implied to have started before the show, but he has seduced and had sex with various women in the first season.
The resolution of Henrich's plotline, revealing he was once a girl that got the Gender Bender treatment thanks to a magic spell is largely believed to be this, since it was never truly foreshadowed outside the often cited Noodle Incident that was revealed to be the above incident. Since it aired in the last season, it's largely seen as a half-baked way to end Heinrich's plot before the series ended.
The Galactic KND is also seen as this, as well as the revelation that aging in the KND universe is an actual disease.
Likewise, quite a few fans dismiss Chad's claim that he was Good All Along and was actually continuing to help the KND (and Sector V in particular) while he was within the ranks of the Teen Ninjas, to be this. Considering the fact that ever since his Face–Heel Turn at the end of the 2nd season, all we ever see Chad do was help in attacking the KND, you can probably understand few people buying his sudden pleading of innocence
During the episode "A Broom of Ones Own", Wicked has very nearly won. She has a mind-controlled army of cyborgs on broomsticks, and they have surrounded Control Central to drain all of the power out of Motherboard. The kids reach Motherboard before she is completely drained. How do they stop Wicked's army? They "pull the Motherboard Override Switch", which is a giant switch inside Control Central. This switch has never appeared before this episode, and it has not appeared since this episode. We don't even learn about the existence of the switch until seconds before the children pull it. What does this switch do? It ends the episode by stopping the brooms from draining the power and nullifying Wicked's mind-control.
In El Tigre the Titanium Titan gets back in White Pantera's good graces by promising not to hurt his son El Tigre, even under the influence of Pantera's Lie Detector boots. Just when it seems like he's really changed, he goes back to his old Ax-Crazy self. Turns out he was wearing "a truth-proof vest."
There is a split-second moment that could have foreshadowed his deception, but again it goes by too fast for anyone to really notice.
In The Fairly OddParents!, some of "Da Rules" seem to be made up on the spot to make sure Timmy can't just unwish his problems (all vocal wishes must be made in the voice of the godchild, no breakfast wishes after 10:30am, etc.). Most of Da Rules/the fairies' abilities do not apply to other episodes. Examples:
The "No wishing for true love or wishing to break it" line? Apparently this does not count at the end of "Wishology".
Lampshaded in one episode, "Movie Magic" (ironically enough, Timmy didn't want to use his fairies because he knew it was against the rules to use magic to win a competition):
Wanda: True. But if you just happened to go where cool action stuff was happening... Timmy:[catching on] And I brought my film equipment with me and just happened to catch something on film... Cosmo: And if I just happen to tear this page out of the rulebook that says we can't help you... [tears out page that reads "You can't help him."]
This has been happening frequently in the latest season, to the point it's gotten utterly ridiculous. One episode, for example, has Timmy unable to wish Sparky back into a dog because he's in love with being human, which somehow falls under "not being able to break true love."
Right after Stewie has cut open a camel's stomach and climbed inside to keep from freezing to death á la The Empire Strikes Back:
Brian: There's a Comfort Inn.
During Quagmire's famous "The Reason You Suck" Speech against Brian, the former mentions he works at the soup kitchen, when there was never any mention of this before or after.
[Clyde Smith dies in a car accident and wakes up in front of a slot machine; he wins] Clyde: A casino where I'm winning? That car must have killed me! I must be in heaven! [he pulls the lever again, and wins] Clyde: A casino where I always win? That's boring. I must be... in hell! Sebastian Cabot: No, Mr. Smith. You're not in heaven or in hell. You're on an airplane! [Clyde is suddenly on an airplane; he opens the window and sees a gremlin on the wing] Clyde: There's a gremlin destroying the plane! You gotta believe me! Sebastian Cabot: Why should I believe you? You're Hitler! [Clyde pulls out a mirror and sees Hitler staring back at him] Clyde: NO! [Clyde turns to Eva Braun, suddenly sitting next to him] Clyde: Eva Braun! Help me! [Eva Braun pulls off a mask, revealing herself to have the head of a giant fly] Clyde: AAH! [the Planet Express crew is watching this on TV] Bender: Eh, saw it coming.
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Played for laughs and taken on another level where plenty of things happen just because with the characters accepting them unquestionably. Like the Circus of Fear episode where it turns out that Dr. Fear is actually a common earthworm or many episodes where characters do stuff just to advance the plot without anything close to an in-universe justification.
As an in-universe example, the plots of most of the movies in Home Movies are held together with chewing gum and ass pulls.
In an episode of Inspector Gadget, there is an evil mastermind who has analyzed every one of Gadget's gadgets and determined that the way to kill him is to lock him inside a furnace and turn it on. This initially appears to work, but then Gadget uses a new weapon never seen before (or after); a hand holding an aerosol can of freon comes out from the top of his hat and sprays the walls out of the room, putting the furnace out.
In another episode, a M.A.D. agent challenged Gadget to pick up a scarf with his teeth while on horseback. Fortunately, Gadget is able to deploy his own teeth from his mouth, which are able to fly around remotely and grab the scarf with ease. Seriously.
The Justice League Unlimited "Epilogue", the Fully Absorbed Finale for Batman Beyond, reveals that Terry McGinnis is Bruce Wayne's son. Cadmus's leader Amanda Waller rewrote Terry's father DNA with Bruce's in order to create a successor for Batman. It wasn't hinted in any fashion DURING the run of the show (neither for the entire DC Animated Universe). Also, Waller's plan runs on improbable coincidences, since Terry was initially introduced as a random teenager who found Bruce's basement by accident. The twist was apparently meant to explain why Terry and his brother Matt have black hair while their parents are red-headed, but ultimately leaves bigger questions. Terry's parents were supposed to have been killed when he was eight, but the assassin refused and chewed Waller out; it still doesn't answer the question of how Terry would've become the Batman specifically.
Kevin Spencer: The series finale, "See You in Hell", reveals that the entire series was all made up in Allen's mind. It largely counts because not only did this come up out of nowhere, but this was not so much as even hinted at in the preceding 111 episodes.
Megas XLR used ass pulls as a source of comedy, with the titular Megas often having buttons that are labeled as being pretty much activating the "save the day" function. Of course, it didn't always exactly pan out the way you expected.
At the tail end of Miraculous Ladybug's season 5, Marinette finally manages to unmask Lila in front of her classmates and teachers, putting an end to her manipulations. Lila walks off the school... and takes off the wig she was wearing, revealing her real hair to be much shorter, and states she needs to cast her "Lila Rossi" identity away. Then it turns out she somehow fooled three different women into thinking she's their daughter, with none of them being apparently the wiser about how their "daughter" spends more than half the nights sleeping outside. And, in the end, she somehow manages to steal the Butterfly Miraculous even though there was no physical way for her to get to it before Marinette did.
In terms of reformations, Sunset Shimmer, Discord, Starlight Glimmer, and Trixie all being revealed to secretly just want friendship in spite of their actions, motivations, and personalities not reflecting this felt more like a means of pulling a Start of Darkness and/or Freudian Excuse out of thin air that could conveniently be resolved via The Power of Friendship rather than a genuine character trait.
"Magical Mystery Cure": The Mane Six minus Twilight, after getting their cutie marks switched, are compelled to do something they are neither good at nor enjoy, as it is their destiny. This goes against everything we know about cutie marks, which appear after a pony discovered their destiny, and reflects a particular skill/idea, often a hobby, not a vocation. For example, Rainbow Dash's cutie mark reflects her love of racing, but she spends half of the series working as a professional weather wrangler before successfully joining a racing team.
"Daring Don't" reveals that the fictional book series about Indiana Jones expy Daring Do is actually true and secretly written by the main character under a pseudonym. This despite the fact that there was no foreshadowing and retcons all the maps away.
"Crusaders of the Lost Mark" reveals that five full seasons and change of Diamond Tiara being a Rich Bitch was the fault of her Richer and Bitchier mother effectively forcing her to behave this way. The problem is that there's been no hint whatsoever of this ever, besides Diamond showing an interest with the school paper which she runs with a similar tight gripped cruelty her mother uses as chair of the school board, and that Diamond Tiara HAD consistently been shown to have few redeeming qualities (she does genuinely love her father and seemed to value Silver Spoon's friendship as losing that manages to shock and depress Diamond) In this episode, she pulls such a swift Heel–Face Turn and personality change that it seems to be implying it was mostly the fault of her mother. It makes it feel less like an actual reveal and change of character, and more like a feeble attempt at sticking a Freudian Excuse to her so she could easily change and befriend the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
In "Daring Doubt", many fans felt this way about Ahuizotl being Good All Along, as it's so completely against how he's been portrayed in every other form of media and the show itself that it effectively turns Daring Do, a well-liked character among fans, into the bad guy only for the sake of a plot twist. Especially in his debut episode "Daring Don't", where he was explicitly using an Artifact of Doom to bring about 800 years of scorching heat on the Tenochtitlan Basin, while "Daring Done" states he nearly destroyed the town of Somnambula and plunged the surrounding area into eternal night, which are a completely different, Egyptian-inspired location from the place he's supposed to be guarding.
The Cataclysm Stone. At first, they're afraid to touch it due to the potential of it exploding and causing a second Cataclysm, but by the end of the episode they just freeze and shatter it without any foreshadowing or indication that it would work.
Another episode where Maya is acting Brainwashed and Crazy due to an evil-infusing attack used by the villains. Not only do the others figure out what's happening with no prior knowledge, they figure the way to fix it is to use the same evil-infusing technique that caused her to have her Face–Heel Turn in the first place (a technique named after the villain, no less...). Rather than the logical conclusion that an additional infusion of evil would just make things worse, thanks to their Designated Hero status, Maya is cured.
Actually rather common, now, usually having to do with Ky's "Inner Kairu".
Admittedly, The Replacements ran on Rule of Funny so weird stuff happening was the rule of the day, but The Reveal in "Tasumi Unmasked" that Riley's friend Tasumi was previously a Japanese pop star who got tired of her fame, moved to Pleasant Hills and adopted the persona of a popular anime character, definitely comes off as one, as there was no prior foreshadowing of any of this, and even contradicts several previous references to her having a family. Even worse, it's likely this was done to evolve Tasumi from her one-joke Toku parody character, but after she lost the armor, not much more was done with her.
In the Rick and Morty episode "The Wedding Squanchers", Summer's friend Tammy announces in her reception speech that she isn't a teenage human girl but a Galactic Federation undercover agent, shoots her newlywed husband Birdperson and then proceeds to arrest every guest. This has no build-up until the critical moment even though the character does appear several times through the series.
Parodied on Robot Chicken, where Vader does the famous Luke, I Am Your Father scene with Luke... and then makes every other major Star Warsreveal to Luke, including that Leia is his sister, The Empire will be defeated by Ewoks, and several of the much maligned additions from the Prequel Trilogy. Luke is left increasingly bewildered and confused until he starts to think that Vader is trolling him, and finally goes up to Vader, calmly tells him "Look, if you're not going to take this seriously... I'm out" and walks away.
The climax of the season hinges on a failsafe for the First One superweapon that was brought up three episodes before the finale and never mentioned previously, because it will interact in some unexplained way with Horde Prime's weakness to magic, which is also established and then never explained.
Getting access to that failsafe is predicated on the existence of Mara's old rebel group, who were kind of crowbarred into existence in that episode as a way to hastily explain the "Grayskull" activation phrase.
Played for laughs when a busload of kids are stranded on an island and, after a Lord of the Flies parody, the episode ends with the following narration by James Earl Jones:
So the children learned how to function as a society, and eventually they were rescued by... oh, let's say Moe.
Also lampshaded with Batman's 'carousel reversal spray'.
Again Played for Laughs when Bart and Nelson take the roles of David and Goliath. Goliath is suddenly slain by Ralph's tombstone and the thrower was... Ralph!
Played for Laughs (again) in "The Frying Game", as part of a Deus ex Machina. After spending most of the episode on more lighthearted plots, the final act eventually leads to Homer being sentenced to death for murder. While you were probably expecting something to save Homer from the electric chair at the last second, the revelation that the entire murder, trial and "execution" was actually part of a new reality TV show called Frame Up! was probably not your first guess. Rewatching the episode with this knowledge raises a million questions, but, of course, that's the joke.
Chief Wiggum: So, wait a minute, wait a minute... You tied up the judicial system, costing the city millions of dollars just for a TV show?
In a three-part arc, the mystery of Kenny's ability to die endlessly is explained. The boys had been playing superheroes, with one of the children playing the laughable "Mint-Berry Crunch," a half-man, half-berry. Everything is building up to a confrontation between Kenny and Cthulhu. Then, out of nowhere, Mint-Berry Crunch turns out to be an actual superhero sent to earth as a protector, and he literally punches out Cthulhu. Kenny is as incredulous as the audience during this reveal.
The Critters from "Woodland Critter Christmas" start out as a regular parody of saccharine, insipid Christmas specials... until we find out that they are devoted followers of Satan, hellbent on bringing about the advent of The Antichrist. One moment they are happy and cheerful, the very next they're sacrificing a disturbingly willing Rabbitty and having an orgy with his corpse (and they're still happy and cheerful). Justified because it's a story written by Cartman.
At the end of the first season, Star's family wand is destroyed thanks to Toffee's manipulations. However, a magical pony appears out of nowhere and rebuilds it for Star with no explanation.
At the end of the Battle for Mewni arc, Star apparently dies after Toffee manages to escape her wand and shatters it with her still inside. However, Star awakens in some sort of limbo with Glossaryck (who was killed earlier by a furious Ludo) and somehow manages to purify the universal magic Toffee corrupted, restore the wand, revive and awake her full potential to which she uses to pulverize Toffee with one blast.
Star and Tom getting back together in "Club Snubbed" was widely seen as coming completely out of left field with zero setup, as Star goes from hating him, to wanting to be friends again, to rekindling their romance in literally less than 5 minutes.
Moon's betrayal. Previously, while she'd been distrustful of Eclipsa, she decided to mind her own business, refusing to help Mina dethrone Eclipsa, but also deciding not to warn her and leave her to deal with Mina by herself. However, it's later revealed that Moon changed her mind and sided with Mina and the Magic High Commission, and it was actually her idea to have Globgor released from his Crystal Prison during Eclipsa's coronation, making her appearance in that episode make little sense in hindsight. If Moon had briefly considered accepting Mina's offer to join her, or if her behaviour at the coronation had been slightly off, the plot twist of her betrayal would have made more sense.
In the series finale, the strength of Star and Marco's love for each other creates a magical portal that forcibly merges Earth and Mewni after Star's destruction of the Magical Realm separates all dimensions. Nothing in the show had ever implied that this could happen, and the one thing that could have justified it (the Blood Moon Curse that bonds souls together) was undone several episodes prior. This especially wasn't helped when Word of God later said that the duo could still break up in the future, meaning One True Love wasn't a factor either.
In Star Wars: The Clone Wars Darth Maul is revealed to be Not Quite Dead despite having been cut in half and then falling down a bottomless pit. The explanation for how he survived basically boils down to...his anger kept him alive.note It's not entirely unprecedented as a Sith ability, but the only two other practitioners (Darth Sion and Maw) only appeared in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, both of which Disney have ejected from Canon, especially in the latter case, since Maw survived the exact same injuries as Maul. Understandably, most fans choose to quietly push this to the side given that Maul's resurrection ultimately gave us some of the most acclaimed episodes in the entire series.
Krang: Here, take this. It's an [improbably specialized device which coincidentally will exactly resolve the situation]. Shredder: And this is something you just happened to have lying around? Krang: We've got to keep the story moving!
There are so many ass pull moments that go in favor of the good guys, it is annoying. The Sword of Omens in particular seems to gain new powers every episode. As Mumm-Ra once said, it's always used to "pull [Lion-O's] fat from the fire." Whenever the good guys are in a bind, it's always the Sword of Omens that saves the day. The early-episode "summon from a black hole" runs as an extension of the Sword's established homing ability and crazy power, and Eye overcoming the cloth masking it can be regarded as the Eye's power burning it off, bypassing the Eye not working while blinded. But that's the last out-of-the-box thing the Sword does that makes some level of in-universe sense, even before they get to the sub-dimension contained within the Eye. (It's made clear; the Eye isn't a door, the temple of the Eye is in the Eye.)
Apparently, Cheetara has untapped extreme power. All that one has to do is piss her off royally. Then she's capable of exuding brilliant rays of psychic energy that can disable a mobile fortress, knock the good guys out of a trance, and destroy machines. What?
Even the Big Bad Mumm-Ra has his own ass pull moments. There are moments in the show that Mumm-Ra seemed to be killed off for good, but he somehow comes back:
Fighting a Genie underground, causing a cave-in that traps them both.
Lion-O defeating Mumm-Ra in his final day of the Anointment Trials. It seemed permanent.
Mumm-Ra trying to open the Star of Thundera, which causes a massive explosion that Mumm-Ra seemed to be consumed by.
Even when the Ancient Spirits of Evil get sick of Mumm-Ra's failings and give him an ultimatum to kill off the good guys or else he'll be banished from Third Earth. As expected, Mumm-Ra fails and gets exiled. What happens next? He ends up on New Thundera.
In Thunder Cats 2011 the resolution of the Sibling Triangle between brothers Lion-O and Tygra and their mutual Love Interest Cheetara (Lion-O's bodyguard) struck some as resolved this way, with the victor receiving insufficient foreshadowing. And the revelation that Pumyra was Evil All Along was regarded as an even bigger ass pull.
Velma: The resolution of season one's mystery relies way too much on information that had never been given to the audience. The season finale reveals the identity of the killer as Fred's mother Victoria Jones, a minor character who only appeared in a handful of scenes. While they are connected to the SCOOBI Project, said connection was never even hinted at until after the character is already unmasked. In addition, not only did the character's few scenes run in direct opposition of them being the culprit (such as kidnapping Fred at the Fog Festival when she could have done it in the privacy of her home, and creating a very public and well-funded search effort for him), but them being the killer comes across as odd when given the motive and their skillset (she wanted to make her Dumbass Teenage Son into a proper heir for the company by replacing his brain with that of a popular teenage girl, but she's also a skilled hypnotist capable of making people do whatever she wants, meaning she could have just hypnotized Fred into being a more competent heir).
The way the plot involving the Orb resolves in The Venture Bros.In a flashback where the Orb is introduced, Sandow appears to have killed Lloyd Venture to stop him from using the Orb. However — and this isn't revealed until Phantom Limb gets his hands on the Orb a season later — he didn't actually kill Lloyd, he just broke the Orb, preventing the doomsday device from being used.
There's a pretty good one near the end of season one. Cedric and his men have the Guardians (and a tag-along Matt) trapped on a snowy cliff and the only way out is if Will forks over the Heart of Candracar. What does she do? Suddenly creates copies of the Heart and make them try to find the real one (which none of them were). This was during the time Will was pulling Badass Normal duty and before Greg Weisman stepped in and rewrote the rules to make sense.
The episode "N is for Narcissist" had one moment where the girls had to be transported away through a portal during a car wash but couldn't disappear unannounced or it would look like they were skipping out on their jobs. Blunk suddenly asks the girls to give him their shoes, and then wears them obscured from view so that only the shoes are visible, while throwing his voice to make it look as though the girls never left. Consequently, the whole group of girls are stuck barefoot on the other side of the portal, having been forced to shed their socks because they would get torn up without shoes...
While not a big offender in terms of plot, Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) has an ass pull in the fights between Wolverine and Sabretooth. Since a fight between two guys with healing factor and razor sharp weapons would be far too messy for a children's cartoon, their fights end up being relatively anti-climatic. The ass pull comes in their first encounter when Sabretooth pulls a giant taser gun nearly half as big as he is out of his cloak, despite there being no bulk or any sign of it when you can peek into his cloak before—making it look like he actually pulled it out of his rear end.
